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1919 1919: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text Jesse P. Sewell

Geo A. Klingman

Henry Eli Speck

Maurice D. Gano

Arthur R. Holton

See next page for additional authors

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Recommended Citation Sewell, Jesse P.; Klingman, Geo A.; Speck, Henry Eli; Gano, Maurice D.; Holton, Arthur R.; Yarbrough, Joseph U.; Wallace, Cled E.; Rowe, F. L.; Smith, G. Dallas; Young, F. L.; Straiton, John; Showalter, G. H. P.; Shepherd, F. B.; Baxter, Batsell; and Speck, Henry Eli, "1919: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text" (1919). Lectureship Books. 61. https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/61

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Lectureship Books by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. Authors Jesse P. Sewell, Geo A. Klingman, Henry Eli Speck, Maurice D. Gano, Arthur R. Holton, Joseph U. Yarbrough, Cled E. Wallace, F. L. Rowe, G. Dallas Smith, F. L. Young, John Straiton, G. H. P. Showalter, F. B. Shepherd, Batsell Baxter, and Henry Eli Speck

This book is available at Digital Commons @ ACU: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/61

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Librar y of FORREST R. WALDROP Date ...... No ...... P r ice ......

TO A BOOK "If tho ii ar t borrowed by a f rien d, R ig ht w elcome sha ll he be T o r ead , to stiidy-not to lend­ But to return to m e. Not that impart ed know ledg e Doth dimish learnings store ; But, I find , books oft en len t Ret urn to me no more ." ------Read slowly, pause freq uent ly, th ink serious ly • and return duly, w ith the corners of the leaves not turned down. • Anon. Abilene ChristianCollege Bible Lectures 1919

DELIVERED IN THE AUDITORIUM OF ABILENE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ABILENE, TEXAS FEB RU ARY 23-28 1919

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F. L. ROWE, PUBLISHER, CINCINNATI, OHIO _JESSE P. SE W ELL INTRODUCTION BY J. P. SEWELL.

It is with an earnest desire that it may contribute some­ thing to the extension and exaltation of the kingdom of Christ that we send forth this the first volumn of A. C. C. Lectures. · \;Ve hope each year to present a similar volume . . In this way we trust to add something of permanent value to Christian Literature. A. C. C. Bible Lecture Week is a regular part of the program of Abilene Christian College,-the last week• of February each year. The lectures begin on Sunday morn­ ing and continue until Friday night with three each day. Brethren, preachers and laymen, who are outstanding in their Christian living and teaching are invited to deliver the lectures. An effort is made to cover a broad field of Chris­ tian thought and activity. This week was inaugurated for the purpose of deepen­ ing and strengthening the teaching and influence of the col­ lege with its students. The service proved to be so rich that we decided to invite our patrons and friends to be our guests during the time to enjoy it with us. Large numbers have accepted this invitation and our memories are filled with sweet association and communion. In this the service has been very greatly extended. That it may be extended still more we have decided to present these volumes each year. Abilene Christian College exists for the purpose of promulgating Christian teaching and influence. If we can extend some of the rich blessings which we are permitted to enjoy here to those who cannot be present we count it a duty to do so. And practically all who are present for A. C. C. Lecture Week desire to keep the lectures. The first order was for five volumes, from a gentlem an who was present and desired a volume for each of his children. vVe desire to record permanently the sincere apprecia­ tion of the trustees, faculty and students of A bilene Chri s­ tian College for the work clone in preparing and delivering the lecture s. which appear in thi s book. Each of them gave his time and labor without pay and the profit, if any should 6 Ab ilene Christian C allege Lectures . he made, is to go to th e religious section of the college librar y. Specia l mention is mad e of Bro . G. Dallas Smith who delivered the excellent series of five. This volume is offered to the public by Ab ilene Christian College as a part of its educational program. vVe feel that our mission is a worthy one. As th e peopl e are edu cate d to know and ap preciate the truth s and principles of Christi­ anity they are save d and developed in Christian manho od and Christian womanhood. We believe th ere is no greater service than Chri stian education so I close thi s introdu ction with a littl e sermon on th at subject.

CHRISTIAN ED UCA TI ON. Text: Mat t. 28 :28, "Go ye, th erefo re. and teach all nation s." I. Introduction, -E ducation. By edu cation I mean that teaching , trainin g, develop­ ment which equip s the individual to live his life in such a mann er as to achi eve th e greatest amount of real success and happ iness for himself and to give th e greatest amount of ?"enuine service to the world. This education enable s the farmer to mak e the soil pro ­ du ce mor e and bette r. the stockm an to mak e his stock yield more profits. the school-t eacher to give better service to his stud ents . the mer chant and banker to better serve th eir patron s. the doctor and lawye r to better protect the int erest of their pati ents and client s, the preacher to more effect ively pr each the gospel, in fact, .the individual , in every activity of lif e, to bett er meet the obligations and duties of life, and to find more real joy in living . Any proc ess through which the indi vidu al may be taken which does not thu s equip him does not deserve to be called education. It may result in knowl edge. information and a certain kind of cultur e; but if it fails to equip the indi vidual fo r life as it mu st be lived it is not educat ion. II. Chri stian E ducat ion. Ev Chri stian education I mean the tr aining sugge sted given from a Chri stian viewpoin t, in schools wher e not only INTRODUC TI ON. · 7 th e body and mind may be trained but the hea rt also. Thi s is the only way in which man may be equippe d fo r the high­ est, bro adest, full est, rich est, noblest living and happin ess. I ca re not how perf ectly you may develop and tr ain th e body an d the mind , if you fa il to plant in the hea rt an un ­ wave rin g fa ith in th e ju stice and powe r of an eternal God, and a st ron g moral character to guid e, dir ect, support and rest rain th at body and mind in the acti vities of lif e, you fa il to full y edu cate; and the man becomes a greater injur y and hindr ance to society th an he would be with no t rainin g at all. ' 1. Christianit y is pr eemin ent ly a religion of tea chin g. Our L ord says to us, "Go ye, th erfo re, and teach all nat ions." \t\fhy? T his bin ds on us a vas t respo nsibility. It is an obligat ion demandin g vast th inkin g, effort and sacri­ fice. Aga in I ask, vVhy? "Ne ither fo r th ese onlY do I pr ay, but fo r all th em also th at believe on me th rough th eir word. " Jesus inclu ded in his praye r th ose who were disciples th en ; but he expec ted th em to obey his command s and teac h the gospe l to others . He un derstood that at least some of these others would be led by thi s "wo rd " to believe on him ; and he includ ed th em in his praye r. He re is one answe r. W e mu st teach the gospe l ; fo r through it men are made be­ lievers. "So belief cometh of hearin g and hearin g by th e word of God." Again. "Ma ny oth er signs therefo re did Jesus in th e presence of the disciples, which are not writt en in thi s book : but th ese a re writt en, that you might believe th at Jesus is the Chri st, the Son of Goel; and that believing ye might have lif e in his name." Jesus, th e Son of God, came to give lif e. T o enj oy this lif e men mu st believe th at He is the Chri st, the Son of God. A nd the gospe l,- th e word s of the Ho ly Sp irit , writt en in the Boo k of God,- are writte n fo r th e exp ress pur pose that men "May believe" this very thin g. And aga in. "It is writte n in the prophets, A nd they shall all be taught of God ." W hy? . "Every one that hath hea rd fro m the Fat her and hath lea rn ed, comet h unto me ." Ra th er stro ng, isn't it? ·'T hey shall all be ta ught of God." We are to do the teaching. T here is no other way to draw men to Chri st. T hey must be taught the gospe l,- the wo rds 8 A bilene Christian C allege Le ctures. hear d from the Fat her,- until they learn . "Eve ry one thu s taught comes to Chri st. And, beloved, ju st here lies the gr eat obligation and op­ portunity of God's church . A re we meeting and using it as we should? 2. The exte nsion of the kingdom of heaven depend s on teaching. And ju st here I desire to say that the greatest ambition o f every Chri stian heart should be th e exte nsion of the bord ers of th e kingdom of God, and its exa ltat ion, honor and glory. You desire it, of course . 'vVe can't take guns and swor ds and go out and capture citizens for God's kingdom. There is ju st one way to do it. Teach them th e gospel,-the words heard from the Father ,- until th ey learn; th en th ey will come. They will fall out with sin, Satan and his king­ dom ; fall in love with Christ, right eousness and his king­ dom; obey the gospel and become citizens of his kingdom. This is why Paul says the gospe l is God's power to save. It is what Je sus meant when he said, "Ye shall kn ow the truth ; and th e truth shall make you fre e." It is what Paul had in mind whert he said, "Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of Goel." Christianity is not a negative, defensive religion only. Not only are Chri stian s to put on the protective armor provided for them, and to plant themselves in the tr enches of sound doctrin e an d pure living and defend th emse lves; but they are to take th eir weapon of offensive wa rfar e,- the word of God,-ancl under the leaders hip of Christ , go out and charge the trenches of error and sin. An d, beloved, we have re­ mained in th e trenches too much . It makes no difference how pure our lives, if we fail to get this doctrin e into the mind of others and thi s purity into other lives, we are fail­ ing in the purpose of God's church. 3. Chri stians may teach th e word of God at any pos­ sible time and plac e. It is scriptur al and right to tea ch the Bible anywhere, any time . T he gospe l is God' s power to save whe n you p-et it into an honest mind and heart , rega rdless of time a~1cl place. But , of cour se, this greate st of all service s should be performed wit h the greatest of care and the best possible INTRODUCTION. 9

judg ement. It should be don e where the greatest good will result to the gr eates t numb er. "N ow while Paul waited for th em at Athens his spmt was stirred in him, when he saw the city wh olly given to idolatry. Therefore disput ed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout per sons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." Just in the home , or in the home and church only? Paul didn 't wait for a church. He saw a city -lost and ruin ed in sin. His great Christian heart was stirred. H e couldn't wait; he clicln't wait. He began teaching them that th ey might be saved. H e taught them in the synagogue; but that didn 't satisfy him . It was too slow. It would take too long. There was the market place . Many people frequ ent ed it daily. He could teach them there. It was an opportunity. Paul used it. "He went into the synagogu e, and spok e boldly for the space of three month s, disputing and persuading th e thing s concerning th e kingdom of God. But when divers were harden ed, and believed not , but spoke evil of that way be­ fore the multitud e, he clepart ecl from th em, and separated the discipl es, disputin g daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And thi s continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the wore! of the Lord Jesu s, both Jew s and Greeks." Great, wonderful work! This time Paul is teaching in a school. He kept it up for two yea rs. And th e Holy Spirit says "all As ia" heard th e gospel as a result of it. Do you think of a more fruitful work in the lives of any of th e apostles? Why the se quotation s and observations? That we may see that it is our dut y to teach the wore! of God anywhere, anytim e,-e ven in school. It is with reference to th e opportunity for accomplish­ ing God's purpo se by teaching the wore! of Goel in schools and colleges that I spea k at this tim e. Th e school is not th e only place furni shin g an opportunity for obedience to Our Lord 's command, "Go ye, th erefo re, and teach all nation s." Th ere ar e hundr eds of others. But th e school does furni sh an opportunity fo r thi s greatest of all servi ces, so wonderful in its possibiliti es that Chri stian s cannot afford to neglect it. · ·w hile in school th e indi vidual is passing throu gh the 10 Ab ilene Christian C allege L ee titres.

for111ative period. He is in th e makin g. H is bod y, mind and heart are being fo rm ed. H is faith and notions and con­ cepti ons of Ii fe a re being fo r111ed and fixed . H e is being developed, very largely, int o what he is to be in tim e al'1d eternit y. Ve ry few people are ve ry radi cally changed in faith or in lif e afte r full maturit y. In spite of the fac t that most of our serm ons are pr epar ed and pr eached with th e adult mind and heart in view a vas t majorit y of th e souls convert ed by them are still in th e fo rmati on pe riod. Durin g this important period shall we t ra in the body arid mind and neglect the heart ? But , you say, th e school is for trainin g th e min d and the home and the chur ch for tr aining th e heart ; and sur ely th e great work of the home and church may not be ove rlooked without disastro us result s. Th e school cannot poss ibly take their places or do th eir work. Ne ith er can it overcome defec ts of char acter resultin g from their failur e. T oo often thi s is expec ted. W hy do a va st maj orit y, pra ctically all, of the childr en of Cath olic hom es become Cat holics and remain Catholics? A re they more diligent in th eir homes and church es than Prot estant s? I don't like to think so, still a min ority of P rot estant childr en are not becomin g members of · any chur ch. T he difference is in th e school rath er than in the home and chur ch. Cath olic childr en are taught and train ed religiously not only at home and chur ch, but in school also. \Ve see th e results. I s it good ju dgme nt , and does th e law of God requir e th at we prope rly teach and tr ain our childr en spiritu ally at home and chur ch and then place them in school where every spiritu al influence and all religious teaching are calculated to coun te ract an d destroy our work in th e home and the chur ch ? Yo u may as well argue th at it is pro per to guard the health of your child at home and at chur ch carefull y, and then knowingly and deliberate ly send him to school where you know conditi ons are un sanit ary, and where you know he will be ex posed to all kin ds of contag ious diseases. As sur ely as there is anythin g t ru e an d worth y in Chri stian­ ity, fr om the viewpoint o f th e un denomin at ional Chri stian , our childr en are exposed to moral and spiri tual diseases in INTRODUCTION.

the state and in many denominational schools fa r more ser i­ ous than mere physical malady; and we see the social and spiritual disease that so often comes from thu s expos ing our children. Christianity is not merely a delightful and helpful pro­ fession for tho se specially inclined toward it and particularly adapted to it, as th e practice of law , medicine, etc. If so we might talk about general education , profe ssional education , vocational educati on, Chri stian educat ion, etc. Christianity is for all men and for each one, not merely a profession but lif e itself. He nce from the Christian point of view all com­ plete educat ion must be Chri stian whether it be general, prof essional or voca tional. Th e entire tr aining of th e child mu st be Chri stian not secular and Chri stian. The failure to und erstand and pract ice thi s great truth prope rly, is respons­ ible for the fatally erroneo us notion that the individual lives two lives, his secular life and his Chri stian lif e. This isn't tru e. Chri stianit y either permeates the ent ire being and makes it every whit Chri stian or it isn't Chri stianity. Chri stian ity is not merely for tho se of your boys who are going to make preacher s, but as well for tho se who are to be farmer s, mechani cs, doctor s, lawye rs,-fo r all. Chri s­ tianity is not fo r Church , pra yer meet ing, Sund ay school and fun erals alone. It is for plowing, hoeing, cutting wood , selling goods, cooking , sewing, playing , courting , every­ thing , everywhere. Then from the Chri stian point of view all educat ion mu st be Chri stian. In anythin g and every­ thing the child is to be trained for,-educated fo r,-t her f; mu st be Chri stianit y in the t raining. This is why God had th e J ews educate their own children , and pre scribed his law as a part of the entire cour se. Thi s is why ear ly Chri stians did the same thing. Thi s is wha t Brot hers Lip scomb and Harding had in view when they sta rted th e Nashville Bible School. I t is what "U ncle David" meant whe n he would say, "I long for the day when there will be not only colleges where the Bible is taught to every stud ent , but when every congregation of disciple s will have a school in which every child can be ta ught God's \ ,Vord ." · 12 Ab-ilene Christian C allege Lect-itres.

We have barely touc.hed the hem of the garment ! For us such term inology as secular educat ion should be for­ gotten . Eve rything that is taught our children should be Chri stia nized in the process . Anyth ing that cannot be Christianized should not be taught our children. Any sur­ roundings, and conditions making impossible the teachin g of Christianity are abso lut ely unfit fo r the education of children from the Christian point of view, Chri stia ns cannot afford to accept such condition s. vVhy don't we send our childr en to the Cat holic Sunday schoo l and the Catholic church on Sund ay? T hey will be taught error . That is a good reason. But our children ·are tau ght as much error in the state schools and many denomi­ nat ional schools and colleges during the proce ss of th eir educ ation as they would be in th ese Sund ay school s and chur ches. They are ta ught by peopl e with the same conceptions, fait h, and ideals exact ly in the state and many denomina­ tion al schools as in the Sun day schools and church es re­ ferr ed to. If it will affect our childr en to ha ve th em taught erro r on Sunda y how may they be taught error five days in the week and escape? Ah! You say Sund ay school and chu rch trai n for th e religious life , the school for the secular lif e. This is th e fat al point in our thinking. T he Chri stian lif e is not .Chris­ tian and secular. It is Chri stian. Chri stianit y mu st per­ meat e, restrain , inspire and control every act of life just as genuinely as it .does the praying, singin g, teaching, taking the Lord 's Supper or any other act of public worship or service, or th e life is only part Christian. If we meet the situati on and educate our children as they mu st be educated if their educat ion is to be genuinely Chris­ tian there is a great task to be perf orm ed. It can't be done in a clay. We have clone something but we have fallen fear­ fully behin d. It will take time , sac rifice and study, prayer and work It can be clone. But if so all personal and Sfc­ tiona l pride and ambit ion mu st be set aside. Eve ry effort must be for the good of the work . If we are not big enough and good enough to proceed thu s we will fail and should fail. J.P . SEWELL . / GEO . A. KUNGi\ fAN A Great Door l s Opened. 15

"A GREAT D OO R I S OPENED ." I Cor . 16 :6. Bv Gi~o. A. K 1,JN GMAN . Th e letter in which we find th ese words was writt en by Pa ul at Ep hesus on his thir d mi ssionary to ur .and near the close of his tw o yea rs' prot racted meeting in th at city. Eve ry day witnessed multitud es of Jews an d Gentiles from all part s o f As ia pur suin g th eir va rious int erests in thi s great cent er of tr ade, religion, and educati on. Th e school of T y­ rannu s attracted scholars and stud ent s of all classes. Pa ul used this school as an "open door" through which to reach all that dwelt in As ia. In Act s 19 :8- 10 we read : "A nd he ent ered int o the synagogue and spake boldfy fo r t he space of thr ee month s, reaso nin g and persuad ing as to the thin gs concernin g the kin gdom of God. But when some we re hard ened and disobed ient spea king evil of th e 'Nay befor e th e multitud e, he depa rt ed fr om them, and separa ted the disciples, reasoning daily in th e school of T yr annu s. And this continu ed for the space of two yea rs, so that all th ey that dwelt in As ia heard th e word of th e Lord, both J ews and Greeks." He re we find th e apostle locate d at a centr al point and note th e heart s and mind s of many people were disposed to receive th e truth and th at Pa ul continu ed pr each­ ing daily for th e space o f two year s. In making an appli cation of P aul's method to present­ day cond itions we observe : · I. T hat th ere are many cent ers fr om which th e influ ­ ence of the tru th should radiate . In our own beloved coun­ tr y we may dir ect atte ntion to the most favo rable conditi on possible. We have fort y-eight states with the great capit al at \i\Tashin gton ; each state has its own capita l and is divi ck:d int o counti es each of whi ch has its count y-seat. Po litically and commerciall y we are so situate d th at in a short tim e we can reach eve ry citize11o f our great Republic. Let us take T exas with its 244 counties as an illu st ration. E very count y­ seat is an open door th rough which to reach th e pop ulation of the county . W hat is tru e of Texas is t ru e of eve ry oth er sta te in the U nion. T hese doors a re standing wide open and 16 Abi lene Christian College Lec/11,res. there are hundr eds of them through which a preacher of the pur e gospel ha s neve r pas sed . Let us brin g the matt er closer home still : T ake our own count y- Ta ylor ; we are centr ally located. ~ Abilene is th e gate-way No rth and South , Ea st and \,Vest, for a large terri tory . On accoun t of rec(;nt develop­ ments in oil and other indu stri es, th e eyes of the country are turn ed toward Ab ilene. Thi s is a great countr y and no one is able to foreca st the ex tent of its awa kening an d develop­ ment. Abi lene is not on!y a comm ercial cent er but is also known as an educat ional cente r. Our own school, like the school of Tyrannu s, has the word of God taught in it daily; and with its pr esent equipment and genero us suppo rt is des­ tin ed to becom e one of the great ed ucational institutions of the world . With Pa ul' s fervor and love of souls aided by the ea rn estn ess of the ea rly disciples, the gospel message was spread throu ghout all Asia . 'vVe have the same messa ge, th e same advanta ges of situat ion, and with the same spirit of devotion and love of human soul , Ab ilene will become an Eph esus-a "g reat door and effectual." II. Our second cons iderat ion is that of th e mental and religiou s att itude of th e peop le. T he whole world ha s had a shak ing up religiou sly. The war has prov ed to us th e inefficiency of denominati onali sm. To meet th e demands we found it necessa ry to uni fy our forces. Just ima gine eve ry camp of soldiers havin g a hundred or mor e chapl ains of "diff erent fa ith s and ord ers" looking afte r the spiritual welfare and mora l interests of our boys. Neve r before has the need of uni ty and un ion among Chri stian s been more powerfully felt. The "clashin g creeds of Chri sten dom " have also been "we ighed in the balances and fo und want ing." The sloga n '·Deed not Creed" gives ex pre ssion to a senti ­ ment share d by million s of our fellowmen. The world feel s its need of a merciful , heaven ly Father, whose Son, J esus Chri st, willingl y offered him self for us all and one who is our "eld er broth er" bearing our burdens and healing our wound s. The world is sick of speculat ive theology and philo sophic discussions; we want the simple creed of the Chri st finding itself in mini ste ring to others; the only creed that is perf ectly adap ted to eve ry hum an hea rt and condi- A Great Door i s Opened . 17 tion, the one on which all the Chri stian s in the world can unit e. This world's hungr y heart is crying out "T hou, Oh Chri st, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find." To be sur e we are divided int o gro ups and always shall be; but with an absence of envy, jeal ousy, wraths, factions and such like , each gro up will labor for th e glory of God and in the 1 ame of the Maste r who prayed for th e spiritu al oneness of his disciples in every generation, and the practic al unity and union that will inevitably follow. The plea for the unit y of God's people on God's Book has never had a more hopeful oppo rtunit y than th e pre sent . The door is wide open, breth­ ren , waiting for us to enter. To be mor e specific: Th e people are calling for an ef ­ fectual message an d an efficient religion . They want to know how to be sa.ved, and being saved, how to serve not only in acts of devotion and item s of worship but "in deed and in truth ." They are asking, How can we evangelize the world? How shall we educate our children ? How can we best care fo r th e poor, the widow, th e orphan , the aged, the sick, the feeble-minded, and th e criminals? How shall we prov ide for whole some recr eation espec ially for our young people? The modern mind is one of inquir y and search, eage r to be instructed and led. The president of the \,Val­ densian church in It aly told us that 30,000,()(X)Catholics had left the Romish church in Italy alone. They had demanded Bibles and when these were furnished them the y "read themselves out of th e Roman Catholic Church." Think of 30,000,000 peop le adrift-scattered as sheep without a shep­ herd , for the y know not where to go and there is no one to "gather them together" and teach th em the simple gospel. Chin a, Ja pan, Korea, India, Africa ,-wa nting to hear and know what is best for them , are waiting to be told. A min­ ister sent out by the Baptists was relating some of his ex pe­ riences on the foreign field. H e said : "Brethren, my arms have ached from baptizing so many convert s, I have been compelled to rest a while and keep the people waiting, and then resume." The hot tears coursed down my cheeks as I listened to "the stor y of the iron band s." Several yea rs be­ fore this missionary arrived on the scene of his labor s, 18 Ab ilene Christian College Lecti.trd .

another missionary had ju st "~asse d through" and had told the nativ es about th e tru e and living God. vVhen he left them they had iron band s fa stened around th eir wrist s and ankle s and decided to wear the se until another Goel-man should come along and preach to them about the living God. He was to break these band s and the y would all obey the true Goel. Thi s mi ssionar y quietly and mod estly remark ed, "B rethren , can you imagine th e joy of my heart when I took a hamm er and brok e the iron band s and at the same time, with the gospel hamm er broke the shackl es of sin and super­ stition that had bound th ese people for centurie s? Then he significantly aclclecl: ·'Tho se people do not know that I am a Baptist; I did not tell them one word about the different denomin ations; ju st preached Chri st to them and told them about Hi s church which He purchased with His own pr ecious blood. " A woman who is caring for many child-widows in India related to us the sad experience she had in pa ssing through man y villages fr om which great multitude s followed her crying and begging her to stop and tell them about Jesus. As she cro ssed a certain river hundreds of women were sta nding on the shor e calling loud and long , "Come to us and tell us about God and the Savior. " Yo u do not wonder that thi s woman said , " I can hear them always , and see their outstretched arm s pleading for salvation. " Great doors ju st swinging wide open and no one to enter in and take pos­ session for God. But what avails all thi s? Our heart s are stirred to no purpose if we fail to act upon the holy impul ses awakened by a consideration of the se startling facts. No t that we do not need enthu siastic meetin gs; our Lord hims elf pro vided for our "gathering together," and th ere is nothing to take the place of a large asse mblage of kindred spirits. We need the inspiring singing , the soul-stirring prayers, and the mes­ sages fre sh from th e thron e of God 's grace through His 1-~oly \Vorel, and the exhortations from warrri and loving heart s; but how often is it the case that the people are will­ ing and anxious to do the ·work of the Lord but for some rea son it is not done . "I wish we would do this ;" "I want A Great Door Is Op ened. 19

to help in this good work; " "Let 's get at it and do some ­ thing;" "Why don 't we?" These and similar questions re­ veal the willingne ss on the part of the people. Where is the trouble? What principle of Scripture teaching is ignored? I believe We shall be unanimous in our verdict . May I be privileged to set it forth in our third consideration of the theme before us : III. The great door opened to Paul at Ephesus became "effectual" becau se a definite purpose and plan was wisely executed during the two years' protracted effort in that great center of population. Do you know of any congregation that has conducted such a campaign ? Brother T. B. Lari­ more once offered to hold a year 's meeting for a church, preaching twice a day and three times on Sunday, and the church refused the offer. vVe cannot expect the results en­ joyed by the early Chri stians unles s we are willing to adopt their method s. It is not difficult to find persons who refer to God 's ways and methods as "hap-hazard." "no plan at all," etc. They are correct in the usage of such expressions if they have in mind the erroneous ideas held by some folks in regard to God's plan s, and more so, if they refer to the "slip-shod , slovenly, niggardly" way in which some congre­ gations "carry on their work " ( ?) . But nothing can be farther from the facts in the case, nor more otit of harmony with the truth of God than to represent God's ways and methods as "hap-hazard, " etc. Reflect for a little while on God's method and plan in creation! How wonderful the design! How marvelous its execution! How perfect the system! Consider the carefully developed plan of Redemp­ tion! , ,vith what simple order and efficient methods the work of evangelizing the ,vorld was undertaken and ac­ complished in the days of the apostles-the gospel being "preached in all creation under heaven ." (Col. I :23) Read the book of Acts carefully and note the most efficient and ex peditious methods employed in meeting every demand, any exigency , any emergency. Under the Headship of Jesus Christ, elders took the oversight of the flock, tended the sheep, ministered to the spiritual wants of the believers; deacons were appointed to care for the poor, the widows

. __ .., 20 Ab ilene Christia n College L ectures. and orph ans; deaconesses, such as P hoebe in Cenchr ea, (Rom ans 16 :1-2) served th e church in matters of special business suitabl e for women to do, and th ey were sent on important missions in ord er to enlist th e help of oth er con­ gregation s; missionari es were sent out by the congregation s ; evangelists wer e commended for the "wo rk of th e mini stry;" the very best and most economic methods of finance were adopt ed and pr acticed. No bett er system ha s yet been de­ vised th an that whi ch requir es th at "e ach lay by him in store" on the first dav of th e week, "as th e Lord ha s pro s­ per ed." Several yea~s ago I suggest ed thi s plan to a con­ gre !!ation that was virtu ally dead. One of th e elders said. " Th e Lord 's plan won't work; I've seen it tri ed too often." I remark ed to him. "My brother , you ha ve never seen th e Lord 's plan tri ed." Finall y, he saic,l, "Go ah ead if vou want to risk it." 'Ne tri ed it. At th <:'.e nd of th e yea r th e treas­ ur er made his report . It was too mu ch for th e good man ; he could not finish ; tears of j oy blind ed his eyes and he cried out. " Br ethr en, I can 't finish thi s report-t here's over a hundr ed dollars in th e tr easur y." Thi s was thirt y year s ago in a littl e countr y church and th ere was but one doubt in the mind s of the members expr essed somewhat like thi s: Do vott supp ose everybody gave as he was prospered ? W hat could we not do if every one gave at least one-tenth ? H ow can any blood-bought child of Goel think of giving less? Th e apostolic ways and method s of doing God's work have not been adopted and followed and for th at reas on mor e efficient work has not been clone. Th e wo rld has not been evangelized and th e sufferin g mass of humanit y ha s not been mini stered unto becau se we hav e not been LOY AL to New T estam ent ideals and plan s. Th e same never­ changing principl es of Chri stianit y must be applied to pr es­ ent-d ay condition s. With the church organized a fter the New T estament pattern, recognizing no oth er head but Jesus Chri st, we mu st systemati ze our work and arrang e for defi­ nit e work in a definite way. Let us not be afraid of doing the right thing becau se some one else does right.; neith er let us refr ain fr om doin g · God's work becau se some one else may c\o it ln th~ wrong way ; let aJ\ preJudic;e, prtde , jealou sy, A Great Door Is Opened . 21 and secta riani sm be put away; let us not fea r coun el nor hesitate to co-opera te in the lar ger spheres of act ivity. Let eve ry congrega tion decide what it is able to do and , if neces­ sa ry, appoi nt cer tain ones to see that it is done. T here should be regular preachin g, if only once a month , in every com­ munit y where th ere is a cong rega tion ; smaller congregations can co-ope rat e in the sprea d of th e gospel message in the home communit y, and th e same plan wo rk s ad mirabl y for preachin g th e gospel in th e foreign field . . That is, instead of ha ving " independent " missionaries abroad, or " fr ee­ lance" preachers at home, let the cong regation s select and sen.cl out th eir repre sentati ves in th e procla mation of the gospe l ; and ju st as it may be necessa ry for several con­ gregati ons to co-operate for th e purp ose of eva ngelizing a count y, so let any numb er of chur ches co-operate in send­ ing out a missionary . th e element of mileag e being the only differ ence. In thi s way we shall steer clea r of the Scylla of Eccl esiast icism on th e one side and the Charibdi s of neglected duty on the ot her. "Be hold, I have set before th ee a door opened , wh ich none can shut. " ( Rev. J:8 .)

HE:--JRY ELI SPECK J'l,e Preacher, His Task a11d Opporhm 1ty. 25

THE PREACHER , HIS TA SK AND OPP ORTUNITY. Bv HE N RY ELI S PE CK . Every p,reacher is facing the most command ing situation in human histo ry. Never before was there such need of the clear mind and the flami ng soul in the pulpit. Today , as never befo re, the preacher may come to his thron e. But in what spirit is he to come? \,Vhat is his distinctive message? How is he to prepare and discharge the task? These que s­ itons surge to the center of our thought s. Th e act of preaching is a complex and difficult matte r und er the easiest conditions. Ma ny forc es enter int o it, and they are of ten difficult to und erstand . o ta sk today is more difficult than that of the preacher. He must go int o the pulpit to instruct men, to rebuk e, to inspire, to comfort . and to regenerat e them. The preacher must speak oftener than the lawy er, visit more than th e doctor, and teach with more pat ience than th e professor. In doing these thing s he will continu ally be adjusting himself to new conditions. There is the truth to be proclaimed. It is God's power to save and thi s power is set to work through th e preached_ word. The preacher, as I see it , must never lose sight of the pow er of the message. The argument , the essay, or the descripti ve presentation of social situat ions have intruded upon th e message which was originally given wit h the fire of deep conviction straight from th e preacher's flaming soul. The truth mu st be heralded to the very heart of th e genera ­ tion. The flame of the prophets and missionari es has burned low. The torch of th e teacher and educat or ha s taken its place with imperfect success. Thi s is not to disparage the work of Christi an ed uca­ tion and th e ta sk. of the teacher - preacher. But it is to as­ sert that nothing ha s ever take n the place of the ard ent message which is "goo d news" still. There has been much sorrow expressed becau se th e church has seemin gly lost some of its worshipers. We hear a great deal said in a lam enting way abo ut th e short age of preachers. Either one of these conditions is to be prayerfully guarded against, but I think a worse conditi on may prevail. There is something 26 Abilc 11r Christian Coilege Lect 'ltre. . far worse tha n to lose the crowd; the re is somethin g even wor se than a pr eacher shortag e. It is loss beyond remedy when the chur ch loses its message . Message is a word oft en mi sused, but it is one of th e great -word s neverthe less. T he preacher is the messenger and his serm on ,is th e mes ­ sage . l want to take occasion to voice a praye r word ed by Bro ther K lingm an a few days ago. '·God forb id that the day may ever come when our boys ,may feel that theology, or man 's philosop hy, or anyt hin g else. will mak e a sermon stron ger tha n th e word of God." Young preacher, make it the burning pa ssion of your soul to be fili ed to the ove rflow with the word s of thi s great messao-e. Let your speech and your preachin g cons ist, not of the enticin g words of men 's wisdom, but in the demon­ str at ion of th e spirit and of powe r that man's faith ma y not be foun ded on the wisdom of man, but in the power o f Goel. Re member that the gospe l is God's power to save. That is your message . That is my message . Do not be afra id to pr each those things peculiar to the Church of Chri st. A popu larized gospel leads to pop ular Chr istianit y, and pop­ ular Chri stianity leads to forma lity and spiritual degeneracy. But the beau ty of this message, in all th e depth and range of it, can be seen and app reciated only at th e cost of intense sea rch and pat ient , prayerf ul thinking. And thi s brings me to th e second for ce or element in th e matte r of preaching. It is th e preacher him self. It is we ll for the preacher to realize th at he is the med ium throug h whic h the trut h is tran smitt ed in ora l fo rm . T his is as va ried un der the most favorab le circum ­ stances, as persona lity itself is va ried. It is altogethe r neces­ sa ry that th is med ium should be well prepared. Rea l pr epa­ ratio n for preach ing is not hin g less than the prepa ration of the whole man . For the final means by wh ich the truth gets itself exp resse d is the refined and kind led soul of the man in the pu lpit. It is quit e probab le that you may, yes , it is likely that some of you will stand in th e way of the message- you will lessen its pow er ; you will stifle its influence through a lack of prepa ra tion. T he continu ed and grow ing responsib ility The Preacher, H is Tas!? ancl Oppor tunity . 27. of preaching ni,ust be met with service that involves all the resources at your command. Today, as in other genera tions, the preach er mu st pr each his sermon s, make his visits, pe r­ for m his weddi ng ceremoni es, cond uct his fum;ral services, make his occas ional addre sses, do his communit y tasks ; and th ese du ties are multipl ying. T here is only th e strength of the average man to be used in the work . But th ere are bett er tool at hand- not a better Gospe l- but-better oppo r­ tunit y fo r personal pr epa ration . Tim e mu st be mad e for reading , for serious thinking , for pa instakin g serm on prepa ­ rat ion, and for seaso ns of real pra yer. T hese ar e da ngerou s days for th e man who is fluent in speech and can easily get aw ay with a pub lic addr ess . Almost anyone can consume the time et apart for the sermon in the ord er of pub lic wor­ ship . Too few men can really preach a cla rif ying, moving , and convinc ing serm on that shall set confu sed min ds st rai ght and bring them to great decisions. But thi s is the kind of preaching we mu st have if th e Chur ch of Chri st is to serve the present genera tion in the place of its supreme need. vVhen a layman is forced to say of your serm on, "I couldn't make head nor tail out of it," in nin e case s out of ten the difficulty is not with th e head of the layman but with the heads (th e firstly, secondly, thirdl y) of the discour se. The serm on very probab ly had neith er head nor tail nor body, an d what is wor se, not even a neck Th e preachers of to­ morrow mu st work as th ~y hav e never worked. I stand ready to condemn that doct rin e as her esy which pleads the eligibility of all men to the public mini stry . ·' Study to show thyself appro ved unto God, a workm an that need eth not to be ashamed, right ly dividin g the word of truth ," "a nd the thing s that thou hast hea rd of me among man y wit nesses, th e same commi t thou, to fa ithf ul men, who shall be ab le to teac h oth ers also." Eve ry Chri stian is a chosen vessel-i s called by a heave nly calling. They divid e themselves into two main classes, public and pri vate servants. \Ve can not rat e too highl y these fa ith ful men whose lives ar e spent largely in quietness and obscurit y and who are content ed, even happy in their lot, and to whom th e Chur ch and the wo rld owe 28 A bileue Christian C allege Lect1wes .

mor e than can ever be paid . Th e public servant s of God are sent of him und er th e Great Commission. They come with a message from God, and one of th e mo st precious gifts Heav en bestows on the earth is a man wit h a message for his fellows. A man sent to deliver tidings of gr eat joy, to acquaint us with God's thou ght s and purpo ses about us, to pour light into our darkne ss, and to fill th e heart with a song of gladnes s- what greater boon could be our s, or should be more acceptabl e? And he gave some apost les and some, prophets; and some, pasto rs and teach ers; for th e perfect ing of the saint s, for th e work of the mini str y, for the edifyin g of th e bod y of Chri st." All gift s and graces, offices and officebearers flow fr om Chri st. He is the ruler in his own household und er who se hand th e order of the hou se proc eeds and th e servant s, great an d small come and go. P rim arily they are not man-made nor man-appoint ed. They receive not their commi ssion from pri est, not at the hands of the P resbyte ry. Th e mini sterial call and functi on are not impart ed by any holy Consecrated oil nor by th e imposition of human hand s, not by education or th eological lore. Properly speaking, man has nothing to do with th e great office save gladly to recognize what God in His sovereign good pleasur e has given, chosen and sent . The man who accepts th e commission must be swayed by an impulse , a force that ever impels him to fulfill his mission, to finish his work. H e mu st regard it as the voice, the will of God, heard in the central deep s of his being, even insistent , ur gent, irr esistab le. Paul refers to it in language that may well be that of everyone called into th e mini stry- "necessit y is laid upon me; yes, wo is me jf I pr each not th e gospel." T hat strang e impelling necessity dro ve him a glad and . willing servant over mu ch of As ia, over large sections of Europe, amid privati on, suffering , victories, and defeat, that he might make men know the love of God wh ich surp asses know ledge. Men properly called can not do otherwi se- th ey mu st accompli sh th eir mission, fulfill th eir task, or die. One of th em the proph et Jeremiah, actually sought to stifle th e voice with in his soul. He sa id The Preacher, His Tasli and OPfJOrtn11ity. 29 to himself , "I will spea k no more," but the mighty word s within him became as a burning flame in his bone s. He was weary of for-h earing ; he could not contain. Ea se, comfort , home, wealth, social position , fri end s are all secondary and are sac rificed without a pang of grief when th ey would thru st them selves between the man and hi s mission, when they would arrest his feet. He is God 's messenger and he cannot be stayed nor linger . It is not sufficient for the preacher to acquaint him self in a formal way with th e message, with th e peculiarities of his fellows and have a burning desire to tell th e story. It is not enough that he be endow ed with great natural talents and capacities; he mu st be set clown to th ose lessons which will fit him for his task. John the Bapt ist was in the wilder­ ness until his showing unto Israe l. His wilderness sojourn was one of thirt y yea rs. Goel led him th ere, and there schooled and clesciplinecl him. There in the profound soli­ tude afar fr om th e enervat ing influences of hollow forma ­ lism and artificial lif e, with none near but God, his spirit was chastened and tempered for the solemn duti es th at awa ited him . This is characteristic of all men sent of God. Wh en he would fit his servant s for some vast work requiring spiritu al r11ight and heroic self- sac rifice, He takes them afar from the distracting care s of the world to commune with Himself in the grandure of solitud e. Forty years Moses spent in the desert of Midian, a keeper of sheep-t he best years of his life utt erly wasted, worldly wisdom would tell us. But that sojourn qualifi ed Moses to become the de­ liverer of Isra el, the lead er of the Exodu s, the conqueror of Eg ypt , and the law giver of his nation . No man is fit to do God's work who has not had some training with the Lord Himself. Nothing can take its place, nothing can mak e up for its loss. All of God 's servants have been taught in thi s stern school , Elij ah, at Char eth , Ezekial at Chebar , David in Exile, Pa ul in Ara bis ar e eminent exa mples. The divin e Servant , th e Lord J esus, spent-by far the large st part of his earthly sojourn in the privacy and obscurity of Nazareth . Th~n in his public ministry , He Qtten retreated from the 30 Abilene Christia n College Lectures.

gaze of man to enjoy the sweet and sac red retireme nt of the Fat her 's pre sence. lone can teach like the Lo rd . T he man whom He e@ucates is ed ucated and none other-(May you never measure any man ·s education by his degrees) , it lies not within the range of man's ability to prepare an in­ st rum ent for th e service of Goel. Ma n' s hand can neve r mould "a vesse l meet for the Ma ster's use." Ordinaril y gr eat truth s are not revea led to man in an instant of time, they are not fired int o his mind insta ntaneou sly as if they were fired from a catapult. Th e truth s a man can live and die by, are wro ught in the fires of the hea rt , in bitterest soul-ago nies, in pla sh of tear s and sobs of secret longing . In silence and lone liness genera lly the tru e world-workers are trained for thei r mission. Me n who hav e learn ed to nur se their soul s_o n truth in solitary medit at ion and com­ munion with the Invi sible speak at lengt h words that men must hear and heed. A firm per sua sion of the abso lute tru th of their messages is anothe r characte ristic of the preacher . Indeed it is im­ perat ive. It is conviction o [ its truth and more than con­ viction . it is assurance of faith , profo und , unm ovab le, un­ alterable that the preac her must have. Goel has spoke n to him and in the cent ral deeps of his being God's word is unshrin ecl. More certain than life or death , more stab le. than th e eve rlasting hills, firm as God's T hron e itself , he know s the message to be. Stand ing in the mid st of a world full of un certa inty, of doubt, and skeptici sm, the preac her know s in whom he has believed . Thi s faith stays with him throu gh all his vici ssitud es and discouragements, his victo ries and defeats. He has received the message of Goel. has felt the power of the world to come, the Spir it of God ha s borne witne ss wit h his spi rit. H e can not be flatte red nor persecuted out of his· fa ith and his testimony. T he wor ld wants such assur ance. T he preacher mu st be , confide nt of the inf allible certai nty of the message. M ulti­ tudes are weary and sick of speculations, of barren idealities and hollow formali sm. They want realitie s, not hypot heses ; food, not hu sks nor stone s. The preac her should ha ve pre­ cisely such a message, and his fait h in his mes sage mu st be The Pr eacher, His Task and Oppor tun it'y. 31 unwave rin g. He mu st kn ow that he knows- God fo rbid that he should th ink mor e highly of h imself th an he ought to think, but Cod help him to lo1·e the mes age and know it. \l\fith pa ssionate love fo r the truth let him go to hi s field, eage r to bea r th e glad tidings without ad diti on or subtract ion without fea r or favo r, without apo logy or rid e­ cule. Let his fa ith be st rong enough to lead him to know that the thing s for wh ich he sta nd s are fund amental, and that nothing else howeve r honestly it may be contended fo r. will not tak e the place of the gospel-o r any part of it. Let him go, too, knowing that ·the wo rld is hung ering fo r the livin g bread. But let him not go look ing fo r an oppo rtunit y to build on anot her man' s found ation . Let him lea rn now and foreve r that the rural district s as well as th e urb an are calling him Let him kn ow that his opport uni ties lie out in th e field. \,Vhereve r man lies, in whatever activity he may be found , th e preacher's call is heard. Th e tim e has gone for ever when the preache r can sit in his study and dr eam dreams, and see visions, whil e the pilgrim host is out in th e dar)rness and th e storm, plund er­ ing and stumblin g, sinning and cur sing , repenting and dying , with out a physician, without a shepherd , without a leader. T he preacher's place and oppo rtun ity is at the head of the host. The sage .may feed his lamp in solitude, but when the blaze beg ins to burn bri ghtl y he mu st carry it out into the night, to lead his litt le band of pilg rims through the storm to th e district home . Yo ung men, stay in college or in your closet with your Bible and your God as long as you can, for they a re your tr easury house of lea rn ing, your storehou se of info rmation, your arm ory full of weapon s for tomorrow 's batt les; bnt remember that your service is to be perform ed out in the world. When your desire to hold up befo re your peop le the spirit of Ch_rist and to perm eate th eir social fabr ic wit h Hi s gospel can no longer be cont rolled, then go- go know­ ing that medicin e must be tak en to sick, and that leaven must he cast int o th e mea l. Co and with th e gospe l of th e Son of God leave n th e who le Communit y, whether the matte r be social, civil or religious. 32 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

The service of th e preacher as a creator of public opin­ ion can not be over est imate d in thi s. present age. In the church es gather the people who represent th e highest ideals and the noblest living. T he preacher has tim e aft er time the privilege of speaking to th em on the most supr eme sub­ ject that can engage th e mind and stir the emotions. It may seem at first glance as if he had scant opportunity to do any creative work in the precious "thirty minute s to rai se the dead;" but the va lue of these time s of quickening, if they are rightl y used, are beyond our pr esent realizati on. If ever th ere was a call for ,mini sters who are enlightened OtJ matt ers of int ernati onal moment, it is now. Here is our civilizat ion faced with most sea rching question s and exige nt problems of histo ry; here is the Chur ch, even in the smallest communi ty, charged with the sac red and solemn responsi­ bility of creat ing th e ideals that will guide the nation in this great day of reconst ru ction, and now and again we meet a preacher who seems to int erpret thi s ta sk as that of watch­ ing the denominati onal preachers on th e other str eet corners, and saying over and over like a wearisome parrot the old phrases th at the father s wore out. The very spirit of the times call for a renewa l of intellectual energy and deter­ mined utt erances th at will help create in the mind s of the people the ideal s which will bear the country throu gh thi s time of suffering and renewa l. I do not mean to intimat e that this work is to have, first place- the preaching of the gospe l is to come first. The oppo rtuniti es are too num er­ ous for thi s work to hin der the preaching of th e gospe l. But th e work of creating public opinion is a part of his task and opportunit y. It will take hard work to meas ure up to the tru st ; no mini ster who is inclined to insolence or arrogance can last long th ese day s. . Th e contention has beei1 made, largely by th ese who feared the influence of th e preacher, that it was not hi s place to take part in communit y activities; but it is highly desirable that th e wa rp and woof of the social fabric be Chri stian. Vve will all ad mit that present day conditions might be impro ved upon. T he Preac her, H is T a,sk and OjJport u nity. 33

T lie re are pr inciples and tendencies at work in modern society which if left un checked will ere long result in dis­ as ter and ruin . A law less drif t is alrea dy on us. Th e rest­ lessness un der rest raint, th e revolt agai nst a uthori ty and even law, the growt h of agnoticism, Bolshevism, th e as­ saults on th e Bible, the preva lence of mate·rialism, fostered as this is by the present day philosop hy and th e comm ercial­ ism of the time, th e enorm ous greed of those who have an d want still more; th e deep omin ous grow l of those who have not bu t who want and will have-a ll th ese and man y more are fac ing th e preac her today. · There neve r was an age, perh aps, when there was a greate r neecl for men sent fr om God- men who kn ow the message. believe the message, love the message with their whole mind and heart , soul and str ength ; believe, and en­ dur e as seeing H irn who is invisible.

i\IAURI CE D. GANO Verba l Inspi ration of th e ScrijJtnres . 37

VERBAL INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPT URES . BY MAUR I CE D. GAN9. Pa ul, writin g to th e chur ch at Corinth with refe rence to the great truth s and fac ts of the Gospe l which he and other ins pi red teachers were th en revea ling to the world , made thi s positive sta tement : "\Ve speak not in the wo rd s which man's "·i sdom teac heth , but in th e word s which the Hol y Spirit teac heth. " Thro ugh the add ress tonight let us each bear in mind thi s inspired utt eranc e of the gr eat apostle. A serious question confr ont s us upon the very thr eshold , or rather befo re we reach the thr eshold of our discussion. Th e question is thi s: wh en the words of the scriptur es are alleged to be inspired what specific word s are meant ? Cer­ tainly not the word s of any tran slat ion of th e scriptur es, because no translato r' ha s ever been inspir ed, either in the und ersta nding and exact comp rehension of th e divin e th ought which he is tr anslat ing, or in th e select ion of words in which to clothe what he conceives the divin e thought to be. T he tran slat ion may poss ibly cont ain error s in fai ling to gra sp the thought of the origina l and also error s in fai ling to ex pr ess aright the thought of th e original when un derstood . Hence inspirati on cann ot be claimed for the word s of any translation .. In spiration can only be alleged with re ference to the wo rds used in the original manu scripts written or dictat ed by the inspired aut hors th emselves. An objecti on to th e discussion of thi s prop osition has been ur ged and ad mirabl y sta ted by Isaac E rr ett , for whose Chri stian chara cte r and splenclicl talent s every one has the profound est respect. He object ed to the disc ussion of the questio n as to whether or not the words of the original manuscript s were inspired be­ cause the gift of inspi reel thought ceased with the death of the last apost le, and th e or iginal man uscripts perished fr om the face of the earth befor e the close of the second centur y; and therefo re the discussion of inspiration or lack of inspir a­ tion in the words of the original manu script is now an aca­ demic question of no practical int erest whateve r to an y Chri stian . man, woman , girl or boy upon the broad face of th eart h. 38 Abilene Christian C allege L ectur es.

T he great editor in statin g his objection does not fa irly state th e que stion. H e appears to ove rlook tran smitt ed copies of the or iginal manuscript s. \71/eh ave to do with the or iginal word s not docum ents. Supp ose the original manu­ scripts are gone but th e original word s remai n, pre served in copies. If we have the origin al word s what matter s it if the origin al manu script s did perish from the eart h in the long ago, or that grasses have for centuri es been growing upon the graves of the apost les? If we ha ve the original words, then proof that these word s are inspired is not a theoretical or acad emic quest ion as suggested; upon the contrary it is a burning , practical questio n of temporal and eternal mom ent. But have we th e origina l word s? Important as is this question , only bri ef time and space can be given it here and now. Th e ,vork accomp lished by the church in answering thi s question occupies one of the most stirring epochs of chur ch historv. and the volumes which set forth how the work was do~e fill man y of the most int ensely int eresting c;hapters of church history. Perhaps the Christian world never received a gr eater shock than when, in the year 1707, J ohn Mills, an eminent critic of Oxfo rd University, an­ noun ced that the manu script copies of th e New Testament scriptur es including the two accepted versions in use in Eu rope and Eng land contain ed over thirty thousand errors or differences in text reading s. Subseq uentl y upon exam­ ination of additional man uscripts th e numb er of errors was increase d. It wa s not until the sixtee nth centur y, man y yea rs after the invent ion of the art of printing, th at th e Greek New Testa ment wa s given to th e world in printed form . After this edition s and copies were multiplied rapidly and the at­ tenti on of scholars was drawn mor e closely to the differ­ ences among the pr inted editions. and betwe en th em and the manu script copies. T he art of printin g, while it brought into clearer J ight the various reading s also brought to a close the possibility of futu re error s. Th e Amer ican Bible Society claims th ere is not a single misprint in the myriads of copies of the E nglish Bible which they are annu ally print- Verbal .Jnspiration of the Scriptures . 39 ing in va rious edition s. It follows , since the perfection of printing, that the language of th e,ancient texts, if corr ected, will no longer be exposed to such erro rs. Th ese error s, howeve r, upon close exam inat ion, wer e fo und to cons ist in differences of Greek orth ograp hy; in the form of words not affecting the meaning ; in the insertion or omission of words not essential to the sense; in the use of one synonym for another; in punctuation ; in errors of spelling; and in th e transposition of words where the order was immaterial. Th ese errors , immaterial in natu re, would naturally result from the work of the copy ist und er th en ex isting circum ­ stan ces, how ever careful he might be. For we mu st remem­ ber that in ancient times the lett ers exte nded across th e page in unbrok en succession with only pau se mark s at state d int ervals. Th ere were no sent ences, no accent s, no division of wo rd s, no punctuation and no division int o chapters or verses. It is no cause for wond er that copy ists made man y clerical errors and yet there is much consolation in the stat e­ ment mad e by Hort and Westco tt, two of the most eminent Bible critics of the last half century , to the effect that "only one thou sandth part of th e New T estam ent was so va riou sly expresse d as to make any substant ial differenc es in th e mean ing ; and that at the time of the discovery of the var ious readin gs the book of the New Tes tam ent as preserved in exta nt manu scripts ass ur edly spoke in every imp ort ant re­ spect in language ident ical to that in wh ich th ey spoke to those for whom they were originally writt en." Of th e thousands of error s not ed, "o nly about four hundr ed mat e­ rially affected the sense; of th ese not mor e than /;ifty were really worthy of notice; and of th ese fifty 11.ot one affects an articl e of faith or a precept of duty. " Such was th e wond er­ ful pr eservat ion of th e original text, notw ith standing the errors found . The ex istence , howeve r, of a single error in the text, it mattered not how tri vial or insignificant, wa s of deepest concern to the chur ch. T he accur ate and sensiti ve scholar ship of the Chri stian world , Catho lic and Protesta nt , immediatel y set abo ut to remove thi s cloud upon the text. Th e task assig ned by the chur ch and und ertaken by the ri pest scholars of the age was to corr ect eve ry error how- 40 Abi lene Christian College L ectures. ever insignificant and restore in all the ir purit y the word s of the original apo stolic docum ent s. Th e task was great but th e means requi site fo r the work had been pr eser ved and were at hand ready for use. Nev.er in history was such an abund ance of mat erials found for the corr ection of error and the restorati on of an ancient tex t. Th e scrip tur es in ancient Greek manu scripts , in ancient versions, in verbal quotations scatt ered through th e writin gs of the church fath ers, con taining text and int ernal evidence of the great or iginal , were gat hered fr om the four corn ers of the religious wor ld. T he numb er of recove red manu script s was legion becau se no text of ancient tim es was eve r studi ed, circul ate d, pre served, and tran smitted like the tex t of th e sac red scriptur es. The reaso n is evident. To tho se who believed. these writing s contained the plan of salvation and hope for the hum an rac e; and these believe rs were the ones who copied, studied and pr ese rved the manu­ scripts. Un der such conditi ons ·who need wonder at the abund ance of material s found and furni shed. More than two thou sand manu scripts were found. The se manu scripts includ ed eight y-thr ee uncial manu scripts ( i. e. written in un cial letters whi ch preva iled from the four th cent ur y to the tent h cent ur y) ; and one thou sand nin e hundred nin ety­ seven cu rsive manu scripts ( i. e. written in cur sive lett ers which were employed as early as the tenth centur y an d con­ tinued in use until the inventi on of printing which super­ seded the humb le labors of the scribe). Amo ng th ese manu­ scripts were the four great un cials and the seve n famous versions known to all Bible scholars. The work of resto r­ ing th e identic al. wo rds of the original tex t fr om thi s great mass of material wa s an hercul ean tas k ; it requir ed th e comparison and gro upin g int o fam ilies of th e numerous manu script s; it requir ed the care ful detect ion and elimin a­ tion of each error ; it requir ed patie nce, pe rseve rance and sound jud gment ; it requir ed tim e. But th e result , the rest­ ora tion of th e identical wo rds of the original text of th e in­ spired writ er, was sur e and cert ain. T he great ma ss of mate rial increased th e labor but rend ered th e result the sur er, provid ed the work was faithfull y done. A few words Verbal Insp iration of the Scriptures. 41

upon thi s feature. Dr. Philip Sharff , perhaps more deeply and bro adly versed in the history of thi s work th an any scholar living in the generation ju st passed, says that no work involving the restoration of an ancient text eve r en­ listed th e talent s and abilities possesse d by th e scholar s of int ernational reputation who toiled successivel y from 1707, when John Mill, of Oxford University, published his critical Greek text of th e New T estament , until th e 17th clay of May, 188 1, when Hort and \i\festcott, of Cambridge U ni­ versity, gave to th e world th e purest Greek text of the New Testament. These two eminent scholar s last named , stand ­ ing upon the should ers of the great Engli sh, French, Ger­ man, Swiss, Dani sh, Italian and Russian critics who had gone before , and devoting their own lives to the work, gave to Christendom the Greek text which was used in the Re­ vised Version and in the American Revision with which we are all familiar. In thi s Greek text of th e New Testament the warranted word, th e word support ed by the evidence as th e correct word, was ·placed in the body of the text and the few words of doubtful claim to noti ce were placed upon the margin . This tex t cont ains th e identical words of the orig­ inal manu script s written or dictated by the In spired ·writers. Why not? Virgil 's Aenead, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides ' Medea were writt en befo re Christ, ( with the except ion of Virgil , centuries before), and each contained thousands upon thousands of error s when the printed text was first produced. If the original text of each of th ese class ics ha s been restored from only one uncial copy and a relatively small numb er of cursive copies; if Ho mer's im­ mort al ep ic, written hundr eds of years befo re Chri st and containing fifty thousand error s, has been completely re­ stored from a few fragmentary un cial copies, one complete cur sive copy of the thirteenth centur y and a few fr agme nt s of cursive copies; then I ask in th e nam e of reaso n and common sense, yes, I reverentl y ask in th e name of Heaven , why have not the identi cal words of the New Te stam ent scriptur es been restor ed by the greatest specialists in thi s particular character of criti cism aft er devoting nea rly two hundr ed yea rs to the work and with near ly two thousand 42 Abilene Christian C allege Lectures. manuscript s as a basis for the detection and correction of errors? Brethren, the task has been accomplished. Thank God we have the words of the original manuscripts (in­ spired or uninspired) and tonight can propound a practical que stion of vital import by asking, are these words inspired ? These ancient manuscripts, penned or dictated by those specially prepared and commissioned of God to communicate revealed truth, are contained in the genuine books of the New Testament Scriptures. Here are revealed to the world the fundamental principles of the Christian Religion, the plan of human red emption, the conditions of salvation, and that vast fund of infinit e wisdom which Christ gave to his chosen apostles and specially commissioned them to teach all nation s. The New Testament text contains thoughts and words . Thought and word are distinct, though one is the medium through which the other is expressed. This enables us to state the issues raised and the specific issue before us. There are those who believe this so-called sacred text contains only the thoughts of men expressed in the language of men; that neither language nor thought is in any sense inspired; that it is the word of man and not the word of God; that this side of the grave its moral maxims may be used with profit, but with reference to matters beyond the grave its statements are human guesses and its promises a delusion and a snare. vVith that class we have nothing whatever to do tonight. vVe shall not prove the truths of the scriptures, we shall assume them. We shall not prove the thought which God gave the writers of his book inspired. This, too, is assumed. The discu ssion is with Christians, not infidel s. \i\le are taking part in the great battle raging within and not without the Church. There are those within the Church, thoughtful men and women, who believe that this book contains the thoughts of God expressed in the language of God's own selection; and that it is what it purports to be, the word of God. These brethren to converts of a like faith can say in the words of Paul to the converts at Thessalonica: "We thank God with­ out ceasing becau se when ye received the word of God, ye Verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. 43 received it not as th e word of man but as it is in truth the word of the living God." Again, .there are those within th e Church , thoughtful men and ·women, who say, "No, that cannot be. We con­ cede. that the thoughts are the thoughts of God, but the words are the words of men . God gave the thoughts , safely lodged them in the mind s of men, but left to these men the exp res sion of those inspired thoughts." They tell us that the language of the sacred writers is the language exclusively of men because of the different, distinctive and personal style s of the various writers. Paul's style differ s widely from Matthew's, and his in turn differs from Luke's, and so on through the entire list ; and further that th e style changes with the same writer at different ages, citing in proof of this contention John's Gospel and John 's Revelation. This position overlooks the principle that miracul ous power is never exe rcised beyond the neces­ sities of the case, and further overlooks the fact that whether God selected the words or did not select them a chang e of style or unit y of sty le ha s nothing whatever to do with the issue. The purpose was the expression of truth. Clearness of thought an d accurate selection of the proper word is absolutely essential to the expression of truth; but peculiariti es of style have nothing whatever to do with the exp ression of truth . Truth can be expressed and a lie can be told in any sty le. Style has to do with personal habits of thought, with the arrangement of the elements of a sent­ ence, the marshalling of clau ses, the arrangement of phrases, the use of connecti ves and th e selection of synonyms. The Stoic philosophy has been presented to the world by two men whose styles widely differ. Its truths were clearly and truth fully presented in the terse, graphic style of Seneca; but no less clearly and no less truthfully were the same truth s pres ented in th e rounded and beautiful periods of Cicero. You will pardon a homely illustration which will make my meaning clear to all. My Grandfather man y yea rs ago told ~ stor y which I shall neve r forget . In the early days a certa111fop ( they called dude s " fops" in those day s) was 44 Ab ilene Christian College L ectures. trav eling in a one hor se gig along a public road in Old Vir­ gini a. Ju st about nightfall he stoppe d in front of an old fa shion ed inn beside the road. A littl e negro opened the door, stuck his head out and held it out long enough to hear this remarkabl e speech; "Yo uth , ext ricate th e noble P eg­ asus fr om the vehicle; stabulat e and donate him with a suf ­ ficient supply of nutricious aliment, and when the Aurora shall ad orn the East ern horizon I will compensate th ee with a rewa rd suitabl e to thy genial hospitalit y." Yo u would not have used a single clause of that stilted and bombastic styl e. You would not have said "Yo uth , ex tric ate th e noble Peg­ asus from the vehicle." You would have said, "Boy, un­ hit ch th e horse." Yo u would not have said, "stab ulate and don ate him with a sufficient suppl y of nutricious aliment." You would have said, "put him in the stable and give him plenty to eat. " You would not ha ve said, "when the Aurora shall adorn the Ea ste rn hor izon I will compensate th ee with a reward suit able to thy genial hospitality." You would have said. "at sunri se I 'll pay you what it is worth." How wid ely differ ent these styles, and yet the thought exp ressed is identicallv the same. What on earth ha s difference of style to do ,~ith the accur ate expre ssion of truth? Any fa ct of historv. any proposition of math emat ics, any truth of philo sophy can be stated as clearly in the terse Ang lo Saxon sty le of Dea n Swift as in the involved La tin Engli sh style of J oseph Addi son. It ,vas not necessa ry to chan ge Pa ul's style. or Matthew's sty le or John' s sty le in ord er to secur e an accurate and truthful ex pression of th e truths with which th ey were each inspired , provided the proper words were chosen. It would be as sens ible to ur ge sameness of color in Aposto lic eyes, as to urg e samene ss of style in Apostolic writing. Again it is ur ged th at the writer s of the sacred scrip­ tur es were on ly mouthpie ces if they stated the tr uth s of God in the language of Goel; that such a contention destro ys the or iginalit v of the writ ers. Th e thoughts are confe ssedly not their s and if you deny to them the selection of th e word s in which th ose thought s are clothed, the last vestige of or ig­ inality is gone. This is tru e, but cer taint y and auth enticit y Verba l Inspirat ion of the S cri/Jtiires. 45 in th e scriptur es is of infinitely greater value th an or iginality on the part of the writ ers. I know not how others may feel, but as for me I can look with th e kindling eye of faith and tru st upon God's great plan of hum an red empti on if it rests for its exp ression up on word s of God's own choos ing- l;>e­ cau se then I know it rests upon the rock of eternal t ruth. But I look with distru st and fea r and tr emblin g up on th at same great plan of human rede mption if it rests for its ex ­ pression upon th e possibly fallible words of fa llible men, becau se th en I kn ow it is resting up on the sand. Vve do not wish to limit or qualify the meaning of the word insp ired when ap plied to th e words of the Scriptur es. The word is used in its bro adest and deepest and tru est sense. As God illumin ed th e human mind in the conc ep­ tion of divine th ought , so he illumin ed th e human mind in the accurat e ve rbal exp ression of that thought. Did he miraculou sly coin th e thought ? Th en he mir aculously selecte d the word s in which to ex pr ess that thought. We contend th at as th e thought s are God's, th e word s are God's; that God inspired th e thou ght an d censored the word. U nder thi s broad and compr ehensive statement of inspira­ tion, rathe r than definition of it, we affirm the propos ition that wh.ereve r in the Ho ly Scriptur es the thought is inspired th e langu age is inspired; and th e tho ught is inspired in all matte rs of dut y, in all matt ers "p rofitab le for teachin g, fo r reproof, for cor rection , for instruction and for the com­ plete furni shing of th e man of God for eve ry goo d wo rk ;" and thi s compri ses all of it excep t certa in state ments of fact or opinion decla red by the writ er to be unin spired, both in thought and langu age. Apa rt from the plain scriptural teac hin g touching thi s question of verbal inspirati on, th ere are thr ee unan swerabl e reas011s why th e writer s of the sac red text did not perso n­ ally and unaided select th e word s in which to exp ress in­ spired thought : F irst. 'f he inh erent difficulty in the accurate ex pression of thought in words and the absolute imposs ibility of so exp ressing it in the case before us. It requir es long prac­ tice and pat ient training to express well known and clea rly 46 Abi lene Christian College L ectures.

conceived thought in words. In thi s particu lar not one but all writ ers have made n1istakes . Pa rd on a shop illustration. Lord Tenterton perhaps knew the law of wills as thoroug hly as any man in England. He had thr eaded all the shallow s and sound ed all the deeps o f that intricat e subj ect. He wa s rega rd ed as a great aut hority upon that branch of th e law. He was also a train ed specialist in th e use of languag e. A short tim e befo re his death he wrote a short will making dispos ition of his prope rti es. After hi s death this docu­ ment , scarcely more than a page in length, came before th e courts for exa mination and construction. It was declc!-red of no force and effect. An ambiguo us word did the work. If I should ask the name of th e profoundest thinker , the most criti cal student that Eng land has eve r prod uced, your mind s would almost inst inctively turn to Sir Isaa c Newton. It is not genera lly known th at .an unfortunat e clause, an ambiguous term , so obstructed th e meaning of one of his laws that the world wa s delayed a quarter of a century in the comp rehension and accep tanc e of a great law of naturr,. K ing J ames gathered together a body of men who were past grand maste rs in the use of langu age. Th ey gave us a t ran s­ lation that for grap hic power ha s neve r been equalled and we can safe ly predict that it will neve r be surp asse d. And yet thi s learn ed body of great linguists darkened the hea vens of religious thought and blinded the world 's concept ion of th e great und erlying pr inciple of the Chri stian religion and of the chief attr ibute of God him self by using th e word "charity " where Goel had used th e word "love." How necessa ry an d how natural it was, hum an agency cons idered, th at these mistakes should occur both in tran slat ion and in the framin g of simple and thorou ghly comprehended thought into words! Th ink a moment of the charact er and scope of th e thou ght wh ich called upon the sacred writ ers for ex ­ pr ession. The New Testament deals with eve ry phr ase of human lif e and hum an character. It deals with th e entir e hum an family. It compri ses two wor lds. _It presents a broad compr ehensive plan of human redemption th at touches eve ry spiritu al life at eve ry vital po int. It is God's hand­ book containin g the true phi losophy of life, tempora l and Verba l I nspiration of the Scriptures. 47

eternal. It s principles, applicable to th e affairs of every day lif e, a child can comprehend and apply; its broader and deepe r principle s have teste d th e strength of the giant minds of ea rth. It is like th e ocean, said a wise one; in the shal­ lows along th e shor e line a child can wade; out farther the stro ng can go in safety; farther yet the mental giants may venture; while far out in th e deeps ris e and fall and ebb and flow th e great tides of ete rnal and unch angeab le truth in the compr ehension and app lication of which God alon e can move and not be lost . And yet we are requested to believe that Goel gathered togeth er some ignorant and untrain ed fisherm en, one ed ucated doctor and one Jewi sh philosopher and pa ssed through th eir minds thi s great gulf stream of infiinite wisdom with th e instru ction that they should sit down and word it for him , without miraculou s ass istan ce or supervision. Could the great mas ters in the use of langua ge, had they been simpl y inspired with the thought, have per­ formed the task ? Lord Tenterton could not have w ritten the will of God, he mad e a mistake tr ying to writ e his ow n. Sir Isaac Newton could not hav e written th e Infinit e law of Goel. He made a mi stak e tr ying to exp ress one of hi s own exceed ingly finite and well known law s. The great trans­ lato rs could not have furni shed the words; th ey made mi s­ takes ju st trying to translate it, with thought and words both given. And yet we a re told that Peter and th e rest in their ignor ance and inexpe rience selecte d th e right words and cloth ed in language infa llibly correct infinit e truth s· which they did not and could not und ersta nd and concerning which th ey were exp licitly told to take no thought. Do you believe that ? If you do, you a re not illumin ed by faith, you are afflicted with credulity. Second. Th e church has no means of testing the cor­ rectness of the thou ght excep t by and through the lan guage in which it is exp resse d. P rim arily the wo rd s are all the church ha s . . If thi s languag e does not exp ress th e inspired thought then we have not th e inspir ed thought and have no mean s of asce rtainin g it. If th e language may not ex pr ess th e inspired thought th en all is confusion and unc ertainty. If the words of th e book a re the words of men, then an 48 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

erring huma1i agency is placed between th e inspired message and th e sinner for whom it was int ended. Thu s is intro ­ duced th e most pronounced rat ionali sm into th e int erpreta­ tion and application of the scriptur es. It mak es the human judgm ent the supr eme test. If the principle of conduct plainly expressed does not secure th e sanction of my judg­ ment or contradict conclu sions drawn from my personal experience, th en the writ er may have mad e a mi stak e in the sta tement of the prin ciple; and if not , why not? He was as liable to err in th e proper selection of words as I in the in­ terpJ·etation and applicati on of the principle. Thus the Im­ perial Book, the Boo.k of books drop s from the hand of God into the hand of man . It becomes logically and practically the word of man · and ceases to be the word of the living God. · Third. Th e perfection and use of the Greek languag e in connection with the inspired message suggests a qu estion worthy of our seriou s consideration. No study is mor e fa scinatin g than the study of linguistic expression-the clothing of thought in appropriate and accurate language. Professors tell us that no medium for the expression of thought has ever equalled the Greek language. Under the fair skies of Gree ce, in the heart s of her poets, on the tongues of her orator s, in the reason of her logicians, flow­ ing fr om the pens of all her gifted sons and her one gifted daught er, the Greek langua ge slowly perfected until at last it became eas ily expr essive of every thought of the mind and of every emotion of th e heart from th e light est play of hu111an fancy to th e deepes t sur ge of human passion. Thi s language at last in its perfection became a fit medium for · the exp ression of God's thought. A t thi s opportune tim e Chri st came, and th e plan of salvati on, th e Gospel for the hum an race, was written in the words of thi s perfect lan­ guage. A ncl then God suffered th e language to die. It s ter111s became rigid in death. A dead languag e does not chan ge. The meaning of its words remain fixed forever. Thus for that age and for all corning time we have th e per ­ fect law cry stallized in the perfect languag e, the living, changeless and per ~ect law exp ressed in the dead, change - Verba l Inspiration of the Scriptures. 49

less and perfect languag e. Th is is a comforting thought. But tell me. Do you believe that this wonderful lan guage was slowly perfected through the centuries in order that men. lett ered or unl ette red, should grope among th e words of the ripe st and richest vocabulary on earth, and select such words as erring judgm ent or arrant fancy might prompt to cloth e in languag e for all time a law infinit e in scope and application, and of which they had persona11y no corr ect or adequate conception? And do you further be­ lieve that Goel then killed the languag e in order to crystallize forever th e possible error s of fallible men ? If I believed that ful1y and conscientiously, I would take my Bible and my pencil and after eve ry dut y of the present and eve ry promi se of th e futur e I would put a question mark. Th ese are cogent reaso ns why we should believe the scriptural langua ge inspired; but wa s that langu age in fact and in accord with plain scriptural teaching inspired? We are all familiar with th e Mosaic law, resting upon the ten commandments as a foundation broad and secur e. This law was not univ ersal; it was in this sense imperf ect; it was rest rict ed; it -covered only a brief spa n in the hi story of one people; it was simply a means of preparation, a i11ake shift. It was a schoo lma ste r whose cradl e was rocked upon the summit of Mount Sinai and who se grav e was dug at the foot of the cross. Its work was soon finished and in the light of the grand er law that followed the old law was cruci­ fied. nail ed to the cross as the Apostle Pa ul .exp resses it. And yet Moses says that Goel wo rd ed th e old law him self. Be says this twice in Exodus and once in Deut eronomy . The following passages can bear no other construction : "He (Goel) gave unto me (Moses) the two tables of stone written upon with th e finger of Goel." "T he table s were the work of Goel and th e writing was the writing of God." "God wrote them ( th e comma1idments) upon two tab les of stone and th en ga ve th em to me." Oh, yes, short lived though it wa s, temporal though it wa s, narro w in its appli­ cat ion though it was, God would not pe rmit the greates t writer of J ewish antiquity to word it fo r him , but cam e down and trac ed th e words with his own finger, so careful 50 Abilene Christian College L ectures .

and solicitous was God concernin g the wording of th e old law. But in the ripeness of time when th e perf ect law came, the eternal law, th e uni versal law, broad enough to compass the human race and stron g enough to save tho se upon th e out skirt s, imposing duties in one world and rewards and pena lties in an other; when th e time came for th e exJJression of thi s law, some Chri stians would have us believe that God selected some ignorant , inexpe rienced and fallible men and gave them full authority without his help or supervision to word this infinit e law. If there is anykind of sense in thi s proposition it is non- sense. Let us look a littl e more closely int o th e fundam ental law of the New Testament as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. "How do you kn ow the ten commandments are imperf ect ?" some one asked Isaac · Ba rro w, the greatest preacher of his day and genera tion. "Be cau se," said he , " I have read the Sermon on the Mount containing the Golden Ru le." vVho worded that sermori ? Matt hew was only an inspire d report er who reprod uced word and thoug ht. T he word s were th e words of th e Mas ter . This would be sufficient to insur e their inspiration , but we need not rest here. The words in which th at wondrous sermon wa s expresse d were the words of Goel. The Sav ior , spea k­ ing to his Father of those whom he had tau ght and whom he had broug ht int o the fold, said, " Fat her, hav e given unt o them the word s Thou gave st to me." So says John in th e eighteentI-i verse of th e sevent eenth chapter of his Gospel. T he words that clothed the inspired thought of the Savior in the Sermon on th e Mount and in all his teac hin gs were th e word s wh ich God had given. Think you that he gave the words to his son and did not give the words to Pa ul and Peter and Matthew and the rest? John wrote Revelation . Th e language of Reve lation is inspired becau se God says, " If any man shall add to the words of thi s prophecy, to him shall be added the plague s written therein ; and if any man shall take away from th e word s of thi s prop hecy God shall take away his part from the Tre e of Life and the Ho ly City." The language of that book mu st needs be apt and accurate. It had to be. The V rbal Inspiration of the Scrip tures. 51

book ,.,vas a prophecy . If a mi sta ke was made in a '"'.ord the thought was apt to be corrup ted. So God supe rvi sed the word s of that book. I t was a glorious vision th at greeted the eyes of th e lonely ex ile when God touched th em. It is a gra nd thought that th e grave stone of the Chri stian does not mark the end of the journ ey; that it is only a mil e stone upon a road that is eve r brightening as it sweeps upwa rd and onwa rd to the very ga tes of the City. J ohn saw that City with its gates of pea rl, its wa lls of jaspe r and its str eets of burni shed gold. So viv id is his desc ript ion that we too can see it. But , Oh, J ohn, there is a quest ion of vas ter import ­ ance to us than a vision of that City, and that is how can we reach it ? J ohn answe rs our question in his Gospe l. T hey would have us believe that God gave the word s to desc ribe the city and let Jo hn in uninspired word s tr y to tell us how to reac h that City. My Chri stian fr iends, I know that my Fa the r in Heave n is conce rned that eve n I shall know some­ thing abo ut the City not made wit h hands; but I know with fa r greate r certainty that he is infinitely more concern ed that my waywa rd soul shall know th e way hom e. And if God inspired th e words of Jo hn 's Reve lation telling me abo ut the City, then I kn ow of a cert ainty that God inspir ed th e words of J ohn 's Gospe l showing me th e way to reach that City. T he second chapte r of Ac ts present s an un answe rable answe r in the affirm ative to the quest ion, "\,Vere the wo rds of the Aposto lic teac hers inspired?''. T he apos tles were to ta rr y at J eru salem unt il they should be endo,ved with power fr om on high. T he clay for this mir aculous endow ment came, and filled with the Ho ly Sp irit, the apos tles bega n to speak with oth er tong ues as th e Spirit gave them utte rance." Among the liste ners we re gat hered devout men fro m eve ry nation un der Heaven; men who were amazed, as well they might be, whe n they eve ry one heard th e message prese nted in his own language . T he word s spoken were , to the speake r, word s in an unk now n tongue. T he Ho ly Spiri t giving utterance in a language unkn own to the speake r must have selected the words. T hese ins pi red speake rs in th e first place did not kn ow the word s of the lang uage spoken, 52 Abi lene Christian College L ectu,res.

save and except as such word wa s given by the Hol y Spirit, and in the second place the inspir ed speak ers did not under­ stand the .thought s presented, and hence cou ld not have selected the word s even had the languag e been known . On that day the Apo stle Peter said, addressing the Jew s, " To you is the promi se and to your children, and to th em that are afar off." - ( meaning the Gent iles). That statement was as broad as hum anit y. It meant the arm of the Gospe l was long enough to reach and strong eno ugh to save a recr eant sinn er upon the utt ermo st limit s of the human rac e; but the apost le did not so und erstand it th en. It sub­ sequently took a miracl e to induc e him to preach the Gospe l to th e Gentiles, He thu s stated broadly and accurately a truth which he not only did not comprehend but which was contrary to his own consc ientio us conviction tou ching the matt er ; and he furth er stated this and other truths equally broad and equally incompr ehensib le in a langu age the words of which he did not know. The surrounding cond itions here demon strat e that thought and words were both inspired and that th e speakers conceived th e tho ught s and expressed the appropr iate words by virt ue of th e miraculous power with wh ich they were endow ed from on high , and by virtue of this power alone. No evidence of insanity could be pro­ duced mor e concl usive than a serious and conscientious state ment upon the part of the accused that he could express accurately truths he did not und erstand in the words of a langu age he did not know . However concl usive the argument may be and however stron gly rea son may establish verba l inspiration, the convic­ tion remain s that up on a subj ect of such great importance th e scriptures should speak, and in no unc ertain terms . And so they do, The Sav ior said to his apost les, "Tak e no thought what ye shall speak; for it is not you that speak but the Holy Spir it," These are his words report ed by Mark in the elev­ enth verse of his thirteenth chapter. Let us examine these words closely, vVhat is it to speak? What does speaking includ e? Th inkin g alon e is not speaking. You are at this moment thinking but you are not speaking. Upon the other Verba.l fn .S/J'lration of the Scri ptures. 53

hand the ex pr ession of thought does not necessarily involve speakin g. Bot h thought and feeling ma y be ex pressed with­ out speakin g. A smile may ex pre ss happi ness or cont ent­ ment; but a smile is no form of speech. The poet reads, " joy un confined in sparkling eyes, tho se open windows of th e soul ;" but eyes do not spea k except in metaphor. The hog wallowing in the mir e may grunt his satisfaction and the serpent may hiss his venom ous anger, and yet hog s and serpent s cannot speak. T o speak is to express thought s in spoken word s. Speech includ es thought and words; but primarily words, since it is litera lly the words that are spoken. Let us paraphra se by substituting in the passage quoted the meaning of th e word sp eak, and we have the Sav ior saying , " It is not you th at expres s the se thoughts in word s, it is the Ho ly Spirit which expresses thes e thoughts in words through you." Language could not be mor e ex­ plicit. T he speak ing Apostle was simply an agent for the express ion of divinely inspired thought and divin ely chosen word. The Ho ly Spirit in spea king through the apost le ex ­ pres sed both thought and word : Ex cepting speech ther e is only one other way of ex­ pressing inspired thought in words, and that is by writing , Th e Scriptures ar e th e expression of inspired thought in writ ten wo rds. The Scriptures or writings include thought s and words, but primarily th e words , since it is literally and directly th e wor ds that are 'Written. Paul says in his second lett er to Timothy , ( Chapter 3, verse 16) "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitabl e for doctrine, for reproof , for correction and for instruction ." This set­ tles the que stion . All words ex pr essing inspired thought whether such words were spoken or written are inspir ed. Lest, how ever, some dream er should dr eam, or some caviller should cavil , or some hair-splittin g reasoner shou ld seek to confu se, and for th e purpose of laying th e que stion forever at rest, Pa ul says, ( 1 Cor. 2: 13) "We speak not the words which man 's wisdom teacheth , but the word s ,~hich the Holy Ghost teacheth ." Thus end eth the discus­ sion. Let us not forget th e conclusion of the whole matter. 54 A btle11e Christian C oilege Leclu1-es.

This is God's Book, God's Im perial Book. It contains thought s of God, expre ssed in the inspired word s of God's own choo sing. Such is th e rock up on which rests the plan of human salvat ion and the faith and hop e of the hum an race. How comforting is a conclusion like that! It gives to the marti al spirit somethin g in the noon-day of life to fight for; and it gives to the poor, fr ail, un anchored soul some­ thing in th e hour of death to which to cling .

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ARTHUR R. HOLT ON The World as the Subject of Redemption. 57

THE ·woRLD AS THE SUBJECT OF REDEMPTION. Bv ARTHUR R. HoLTON. Christianity has primarily to do with individuals, but it does not wholly overlook institutions of men for these insti­ tutions are made up of individuals. It is a mistake for the Christian element of the world to overlook its wider applica­ tion. For who can say ju st where in the world Christianity may have influence and just where it may not. It is the purpose of thi s paper to show that the true ideal for Christianity is that it shall not only influence the individual but that its influence shall spread into wider and wider spheres until the whole lif e of mankind shall come to be influenced by it. By thi s view it is not the purpose of Christ to save individuals out of the world, but to save the world itself. The history of Christianity shows that at times there ha s been a tendency. to asceticism but the ascetic has never been for long the ideal Christian. This tendency brought to completion is the extreme of individualism . Today we look with much regret upon the age of monks and cloisters. And, too, when at times men have turned away from asceticism to broader conceptions of their duty they have not at all chosen the higher good. This is well illustrated by the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church of our time. There is no hope for a world redemption in thi s view, they only hold out the hop e that the world outside the Church will finally fall away into decay and leave the Church in undisputed possession of the field. The Church is pictured as a frail woman being persecuted by the world, to be finally redeemed by God interposing in her behalf and destroying her wicked enemies. Many Protestants ha ve the same con­ ception. Is this the true ideal for Christianity? Is the Church a weakling being persecuted? It was not the attitude of the apostolic Church, thougJ1 it was persecuted bitterly. Paul never for one moment doubt ed but that his Gospel was able to go on conquering durin g th e centuries as it was conquer­ ing 'in 'his day . In Paul's clay it spread from the individual outward. \,Ve are to hold the hope of this growing influence 58 Yl_bile11e Christian College L ectures.

as completing itseif , the final completion to be when eve rv individual in all his human relationship shall be full y influ­ enced by th e spirit of Chri st. Thi s may be an ideal. But an ideal is the most practical thin g in th e world. Jesus with an ideal has projected him­ self across twenty centuri es. And we are still looking at the ideal with ever increasing interest as th e centuries go by . Can we afford to limit our work to the mere saving of the individual and forget the wider sphere of human relation­ ship s and leave them out side th e spher e of our influence ? If we have ever held any lower ideal for th e Church I think it has grown out of a mistaken conception of the Church . This conception is that th e Church is identifi ed with public wor ship. and out side of public worship and acts of benevolence the Church has no sphere of activity. It is easy to see how it is possible for individualism to go ~o extr emes when the sphere of puj:ilic worship is the only sphere for religious activity. The worshiper sings and prays and cont emplat es going to anoth er world, but forgets the one in which he lives. When this occurs on a wide scale th e great tid e of humanity with its many un solved probl ems goes by the Church and the Church wonders why its influence is not any stronger and wh y it is that the world is so worthl ess and cruel. Th e truth of the matter is that public worship is but one of th e activities of God 's Church. And since it is confined to one clay in the week it is a very small part of man 's act ivity. The other six clays are spent in various human relati onship s. Shall th ese relation ship s be Christian? This questi on can be· answered only in the affirmative. Spirit must int erpenetrate and vivify mat erial ; Goel is not separate but is a spirit pervading the univ erse; the human soul is not sepa rat e fr om the body but is tran sforming the body ; re­ demption does not make men sepa rat e by removing th e redeemed into a different sphere of exis tence. but draw s them with all their surroundin gs into holy and loving rela­ tions ; th e Church is not a separa te body for public wor ship only but is seeking always, an d destined, finally, to embrace the whole race of mankind, The World as the Subject of Redemption. 59

To be specific, what are some of these relationships out­ side of public worship? The Family Life. Here it is evi­ dent that the spirit of Christ has a great field in which to work . When we contemplate the divorce problem in the world we are apalled that this sphere of life is as much neglected as it is. But steps are being taken to sweeten :ind purify family life and from whatever source these steps come they are neverth yless Christian and are not to be de­ cried but commended in our assemblies for public worship. Some have the idea that nothing good can come from any source but the source of public worship . Is it not better and more Christ-like for the pulpit to encourage every Chris­ tianizing influence from whatever source it comes? I.s it Christ-like to deride a move just because it does not orig­ inate with us? My point is that our pulpits are to inspire just such moves and not to block their progress. To the everlasting shame of the pulpit it has stood in the way of many reforms. Turning next to the sphere of Knowledge. Rias Chris­ tianity anything to fear from any legitimate field of human knowledge? If it has, its spirit has been misrepresented in New ·Testament Scriptures. There has been an unholy war between sciences and Christianity. Representatives of both are to blame for this situation . It is our business to see that in our day the departments of knowledge are co-ordinated . True science· is as much an inspirer in its place as any other branch of knowledge. In fact , all the facts of nature and all knowledge should be at the disposal of Christiani ty. The pulpit then is not to denounce as unchristian all knowledge that is not specifically termed religious as over against sec­ ular, for there is no such thing as secular Knowledge and religious Knowledge for all Knowledge is valuable for religion . Christianity is a circle, small , perhaps, but is to widen its circumference until it becomes equal to all the life of mankind. In reference to the Life of Art , what is needed is that it should be popular not that it should be debased to de­ praved taste, but that it should raise the popular taste by the presentation of its ideals in an intelligible form. All forms 60 Abi lene Christian College L ectur es. of art are but the modes of the indi vidu al ex pr essing an ideal. Let this ideal be impart ed to oth ers, in mu sic, in dra ma, in eloquence, in all form s of Art , thu s it is th at the A rtist in any line can trul y be a benefit to his fellow-men. An d this is Chri stian . T he pulpit should encour age the pur est and tru est express ion of life's pur est joys, but no others. Pass ing on to the L ife of Society, th e great danger we face here is its ex clusiveness . 'vVe need a real Chri stian democracv . T he clanni shness and class hatr ed and social distinctio,;s , less in Amer ica th an elsewhere perha ps, are fo reign to the spirit of Jesus. Society should more and more take on a missionary character, th e best giving its best to those not so fortunate . T his spirit is abroad since th e 'vVar as never befo re and great stri des have been tak en in the right way to rid society of many of its evils. It is our privilege to see that many more evils are don e away with and this, too, is Chri stian. Th e expa nsion of Tr ade in th e present centur y has opened up a great new field fo r Chri stianity. Th e exp ansion of tr ade is always a great avenu e fo r the dissemin ation of ideals. Many times did Greece and Ro me influence th e world th rough their enorm ous volume of business . Thi s sphere of life comes close to all of us for we are all engaged in making a living. If we can succeed in inspirin g tr ade with Christian idea ls, the influence of Chri st here will be felt aro un d the world . 'Ne are all member s of the nat ion. W hat kind of nation shall we have? Let it be hoped th at th e nation will more and more take into considerat ion its dut y of sa feguarding the best interests of the people. In our day we ha ve seen in our coun try hu man slave ry abo lished. Th e ex pulsion of th e saloon and many oth er reform s have enobled all life . Let the pulpit encou~age all such moves . \iVhat then is the place of public wo rship? Let it stand with outst retched arms to receive the needy of all the earth and within its folds be willing to pro tect and nurtur e the good of all the world. Le t it sta nd as th e one quiet spot whe re the toiling mass of humanit y can be inspired to The Wor ld as th e Subject of Rcdempt'lon . 61

high er and nobler lif e. Let it sta nd for the Chri st of Gallilee and for all that he eve r tau ght. Let it stand as a fri end and ally of any man or any set of men who are mak ing gen uin e sacrifice for th e good of their fellows. This ideal may be a long way in the futur e, but whether it be a thou sand years or mor e, we cannot afford to hav e any lower ideal. The world is wicked, yes, very wicked. The way may seem dar.k ind eed. But did you eve r stop rn think that in our day there is not a wrong but it is being loudly cried out against. It was not always so. In our clay there is growing up a brotherhood of man. Nat ional lif e is broadening int o interna tional lif e. Vie have every hope to be confident that th ese relati onships of broader life will be founded on the principles of Jesus. Let us pray that th e scour ge of war will never aga in darken our land , but that the combin ed forces of th e rac es of mankind may move in peace tow ard that far off divine event when the Ki ngdom will be delivered back to Goel, and that in the meantime that all the joy and progress of undi stu rbed peace may be the herit age of all mankind .

JO SE P H U. YARBROUGH Our Educationa l Progrnm . 65

OUR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM. Bv J. U . Y ARBROUG H . In every field of man's endeavo r, it is essential th at he have some plan of action. One of the most fundamental difference s between · man and th e lower animals is hi s ability to form ulate plans and to work with a purpose, ever holding before him a definite goal. \i\Therever we find a problem solved we find back of it a mind which set for itself a cer­ ta in goa l and planned and wor ked carefu lly and diligently to that cert ain end . Our great prob lems are not solved by chance or accident , but by the most persistent efforts dir ected by skill and discernment. T he great prob lems of educating our young will be solved in the same way. \i\Te need not delude ourse lves by thinking that it will work itself out . It command s the best of our talent and energy for soluti on. T he supr eme question of our day is, whether the church fo und ed by our Lord, J esus Chr ist possesses the spiritual energy and sense of dut y to mea sur e up to its educational task. T here are many signs that the chur ch is beginning to expe rience a mighty reawak­ enin g with reference to Chri stian educat ion. A recent writer says : "T here is no greater problem before us as a people than the que stion : how can our educat ional system do mor e for the moral and spiritual needs of the young?" Another writes: "R ight-thinkin g peop le know th ere was never greater ·need fo r true (C hri stian) educatio n than now , and we are glad to think th ere was never a greate r demand for it. Shall not schools be built and maintained which furni sh the facili ties fo r such edu cati on ?" The day has come, the opportu nity is at hand for th e chur ch of Chri st to place itself in the leade rship of educa­ tion . She is to be no mere hand-ma iden of the public school,s, trying in a half-hearted way to supply what the State dare not do, by doling out a littl e, religious informa­ tion .for half an hour each Sund ay. He r hand is upon th e switchboard which shall unit e the curr ents and relea se th e pow er wh ich vitalizes all cultur e and learning. The church must direct th e educatio n of our young toward the noble st 66 Abi lene Christian College Lectures .

ideals by cor relating the influences of the home, the schoo_ls, and our colleges. T his difficult but gloriou s task mu st 111- evitably fall upon the young preachers and teachers of our churches. And they mu st in an open-heart ed and broad­ minded way take up th eir enlarged duties for the new Chri s­ tian Education. This idea of educational duti es of th e young preacher was forcefully presented to us yesterday by Dean Speck. It is my ta sk at this hour to pres ent to you a program which will unif y our effor ts, bring our act iviti es from the leve l of random mov ement up to the realm of rational, pur­ posive condu ct ; a prog ram th at will enabl e us to set for our selves a distinct goal. Thu s. working by formulated plans and forgetting the littl e and petty things of the day, we can push forward with a hope of reachin g the coveted goa l. Such a program will call upon the chur ch to use all its educati onal a·gencies. These agencies- th e hom e, elemen­ tary public schools, our juni or colleges, and colleges are at th e services of the church and shoul'd be used by the church. 'vVe shall take th ese agencies up in their order and show ~ their pos sible serv ice in Chri stian Education . I am fully awa re that rat ional people diffe r in their methods of procedure, and will, therefore, not be disap­ pointed if , when I have completed this present ation , I find that you ha ve an entir ely different opinion. I will rather appreciate an exp ression of your viewpoint , that by our dif­ fering, we may both be bett er prepared to do our pa rt for the cause of Christian Education. · All educat ion ha s its beginning in the home. Some one ha s called the hom e "God 's first and holi est school. " The Old Testament sets forth a divine injuncti on for the parents to instruct and train the young . Unless the hom e lays the foundation there can be no super st ructur e, and both church ~nd civilized society will ulti mate ly crumb le into ruin . The lessons of the hom e are hon esty, clean liness, loya lty, love, cons iderati on for others, truthfu lness, and ju stice . It i~ the birthplace of reverence and piety. The intens ity and the ru sh of modern times permit the parents but littl e time for instruction in these fundam entals, and tend to destroy that Our _Educa tional Program. 67

sweet relation ship between mother an d child , between fath er and son. \11/efind , therefo re, many children tod ay who did sacred things. Th e respons ibilit y for this hom e trainin g is being shift ed to our public schools. No one que stions thi s, but had you eve r thought of th e fact that the public schools are poorly prepared to ass ume such a grave respo nsibilit y? Their own problem was great enou gh without having a new one thru st upon th em. \ II/ e question, therefore , th eir ab ility to carry forth thi s two-fold respon sibility- home-training and pri ­ mary edu catio n. Th e Catholic s rea.Jize thi s condition , and hav e hundr eds of schools throughout our states for the purpose of giving th eir young an elementary educat ion. 'Ne do not want such chur ch schools, but our program should call for a more co­ ope rati ve effort in elementary education by the church and state. Our gr eat nation al peril is found at thi s point in our educat ional program. Th e church is say ing, education is no longer in its hand s; the state is say ing, we teach no religious doctrine , and the resu lt is astounding ignoranc e of the Bible with all its principles of Ii fe. An invest igation in the yea r of 1904 revea led the fact that in 818 out of 1,098 cities of over fo ur thousand inhab i­ tants, the Bible wa s read to the pupils. In 162 cities all religious exe rcises were stri ctly pro hibit ed. In 9 15 of these schools sacred songs were sung by the pupil s. In 162 neith er songs nor prayer were permitt ed. In most of the se cities where the Bible is read and prayer is made and sac red songs are sung, the teacher is not permitted to comm ent on th e Scripture read . Sta tistics show that about one-half of th e children of public school age in our states are ignorant of the Bible , while only a few of th e remaining half are really familiar with it. 'vVe need Chri st ian teachers in our public schools. The public schools could and should be teachin g those large Chris­ tian prin ciples concernin g which all the religious people are ag reed. The se principl es of Chri stian living can be taught by putting a greater numb er of Christian men and women in our schools; by more sacred hymns in their serv ices; by a 68 Abilene Christian C allege Lectures.

co-operat ion of chur ch and state for the success of the great probl em upon which th e destiny of them both equally rests. Higher education in the church has grown up in a chaotic way, hence that the var ious institutions alie entir ely lackin g in corr elati on of purpose. Colleges ha ve been estab lished without any relation whatever to others about them. Con­ fu sion, competition, duplication, and consequent waste have been the result. The tim e ha s now come in th e history of education for a clear-cut classificat ion and for a careful dis­ crimination of the functions of our Christian institutions of lea rning. The junior college , college and univ ersity must have their stat us defined . Realization of thi s ha s been forced upon us:. the recent st ru ggle for state certific ate priv­ ileges is a case in point. We had to measure up to definit e stand ard s in order to secur e thi s privilege. And we sha ll have to meet other equally definite sta ndard s in ord er to achieve any real sta nding in th e education al world. The location and equipn~ent of such instit uti ons of learn­ ing are becoming more and more difficult. Sma ll colleges should necessarily be few in number and placed in the most str at egic centers. T hey should not be rivals of public schools, but should serve a specific function , exceed ingly import ant for the community and church which support s them. Thi s special work calls for special equipment and pr epa red teachers, and the church is permitting harm to be done to it when it tolerates the poorly equippe d and unpr e­ par ed. Small, compact colleges wisely distributed over the country , with a few well-manned departments within the resourc es at command, and a pro f essiona l staff of rip e. scholarly , th oro ughly qualified teachers of un selfish, Chri s­ tian spirit , is the dut y and should be the policy of the church. Th e sma ll college must be in ou r educat ional pro­ gram, for it offers peculiar advantages to our chur ch popu­ lation . It is a fact that it offers the best adva ntag es to the many , for it is best adop ted to their needs. It is tru lv an exp ression of American civilization - purely democ ratic . And aga in it makes a certain amount of ed ucatio n possible for those of small mean s. Our Educationa l Program . 69

Th e Junior CoJlege must be able to give an account of itself. Eve ry institution which aims to be permanentl y suc­ cessful mu st have some distin ctive purpo se and functi on which it fulfill s for th e benefit of th e peop le. The excuse for its existence and the hope fo r its success will depend up on its ability to create for itself a place in society. The Junior College should be a part of our education al program because it does have a distinctive place in society, and it does have a peculiar service to render to its people . It is her e that most of our preach ers receive their early training. The church today demands and deserves a trained mini ster. Stat istics· show that our educated mini sters received their early educatio n in Christ ian college s. The age calls for great preacher s, well tra ined. The mini ster s of the past , though large ly untrained did their work hero ically. The preachers of the futur e mu st possess all th e eloquence and evangelistic fervo r of their predecessors, and to thi s they mu st add the learnin g, th e social int erest, th e sympat hy, and th e teaching power which comes through college training. The small college must train for the church Christian laymen; men who live above narrow pre judic es and pettiness of spirit. Ano ther great need of the church today is a large number of trained layme n . Th e largest heart s full of pure human sympat hy and guid ed by trained int ellects and cool jud gment , should be mixed with our fundamental church doctrine if we hope to prove ourselves th e light of the world. Men should know that God has a might y progra m to be real­ ized, and that "Thy will be clone" is a chaJlenge to the best that there is in them. T he small school mu st give the prelimin ary training for our social work ers amo ng the poo r ( for is there not a piti- . able sca rcity of trained worke rs of this kind among us?) : the prelimin ary training for our lawye rs, teac hers, and doctor s so that in aJI the se professio ns may be found th e principles of Christianity. There will come fr om these schoo ls our trained missiona ries, ( for the church has lea rned by haza rd ous exper ience that it tak es certain special train- ing to do missiona ry work success fully). · But the small college ec;1ng ive only the elementary train- 70 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

ing for this large gro up of wor .kers. They need a few mo~e years of training - training that will prepa re them for their pa rti cular work in lif e. If we want more lawye rs, doctors, professor s, and statesmen of religiou s. conviction, we must prepare our boys and girls for the se profes sions. VVe are proud of our Chri stian men who stand in the front ranks of their profes sion holding aloft the pr inciples o f Christianity. It is when we see the se men of courage and leade rship that our faith is strengthened and our hope in the church as the real salt of the earth is increase d. How far can the church lag behind and st ill retain the title of candle-bearer? ·when the chur ch is act ively doing its full duty , we will find both men and women stepp ing forward fr om its ranks, with the light of religion in their souls, to lead and direct the destinies of their fellow men. Another gr eat need of the church today is leadership, and before it can ever have thi s leade r­ ship, it must bear the expense of producing its leade rs . The chur ch must go with its students through their entir e prep­ aration if they are to give it the glory in the end. And to the extent the church hold s her influence through th ese final yea rs of prepa ration students will hold fort h the light of Chri stianity during t11e remainde r of their lives. The chur ch ha s at present no means of following these student s through their last few years of preparation, and those who are ambitious, tho se who are the. poss ible mat erial for the leade rs in the chur ch, mu st go alone if they secur e add itiona l training. At this dangerous point, the church is oft en left behind , and loses its best mat er ial. Not that a large number are lost here, for not many reach this point, but those few who are lost are exce llent material. It will be a large and new task for the church to und ertake the preparation of th ese ambiti ous young men and women. But it should be both pleasant and profitab le-p leasa nt because of th e innat e nature of the p1·oble111, and profitable because it will save for the chur ch this exceptiona l mat erial, and at the same tim e act as an incenti ve for other s to join their ranks. To carry out a prog ram such as has been presented, we must brin g system out of confu sion and secur e a unit ed Our Educational Progra m. 71 effo rt of all the education al forc es of the church . Ev ery school mu st become a unit in the educational program of th e chur ch. Ev ery congrega tion and as nea rly as possib le eve ry member of th e chur ch should know that th e chur ch has an educat ional program and that he has a part in it. No school sup erintend ent can build a school bett er th an his patrons want , no gov ernm ent can sur pass the gove rn ed. and no man or group of men can build and maintain a Chri stian college above th e wishes of th e members of the chur ch. T o carry out thi s prog ram eve ry ac tive member of th e chur ch mu st feel th e need fo r such an institution , and with common pur­ pose and uni ted effo rt do his bit fo r its. realizat ion. W hen th e chur ch und ert akes thi s new tas k in th e higher edu cat ion of its youn g. it mt1st establi sh and ma intain a col­ lege or univ ersity of the first class. But before takin g hold of such a tremend ous ta sk it will be wise to ex amine and recoun t our phys ical means. "Fo r whi ch of yo u, in­ tendin g to build a tower , sitt eth not dow n first, and coun tet h the cost, whe th er he have sufficient to finish it? Le st hap­ pily, aft er he bath la id the fo un dat ion, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him . say ing, thi s man bega n to build. and was not able to finish." In count­ ing our phys ical means can th e wea lth o f all th e chur ches of our state be used as a basis? O r the wea lth of only certa in portion s of th e sta te? The pr esent need is not g rea t enough , and besides th e ta sk is too large fo r th e chur ch to und ert ake to build and mainta in mor e than one such college in our State . No w, when P aul was intru ste d with the disse min a­ tion of th e truth , he sought the cente rs of lea rnin g and th e leaders of men. Lik ewise we, who cla im to be th e light bear ers of th e truth tod ay should select for this. our highest institution , th e most strat egic po int of our civilizat ion. A light -house is neve r place d behind a cliff , but out in th e open wher e it can give light to all th e countr y round abo ut. Th e first step in building such a college is to raise a .large end ow ment fund. For higher institution s of lea rnin g a re fa r more cost ly to equip and mainta in than many of us seem to think. Bu ildin gs are an imp ortant item of ex pense, but with th em erected th e continu ed expe nse beo-ins. Equipm ent 72 A bilene Christian College L ectiwes.

and laboratori es for all the sciences are necessary ; books mu st be bought fo r th e librar y; a lar ger and better prepared and bett er paid fa cult y mu st be secur ed ; scholarship s, mu se­ um s, printing establishments, and man y oth er featµr es mu st be provid ed. A Chri stian college cannot afford to fall be­ hind th e best in these respects. Th e fact th at it is a Chri s­ tian college is no excu se for its asking a wo rth y and self­ sacrificin g staff of instructi on to teach for und erpay . No faculty , however, consecrat ed, can rend er th e best service when the instituti on in which th ey labor fa ces a deficit year aft er ·year. For an institution to sound its trump et befor e men a·nd profe ss to be doing a stand ard of work far beyond its physical means, brin gs shame to the chur ch and eventu­ ally dishonor to itself. It is impos sible to maint ain a first-cla ss college by th e fees of th e stud ent s, unl ess, of cour se, the fees ar e beyond reason. In thi s case, the very purp ose of th e Chri stian col­ lege is defeat ed, for only th e wealth y few could att end. O f all colleges th e Chri stian college should receive and instruct , regardl ess of class or fund s, all stud ents who kn ock at its doors. Con sequentl y, it is absolut ely essenti al that th e Chri stian college be endowed if it is to sur vive and be of service to its people. A nd again it is. to th e best int erest of th e members of th e church and to th e success of th e college th at thi s endow ­ ment be raised, for it establishes a vit al relati on between th e institution and the indi vidual members. Th e Chri stian col­ lege exi sts for all classes of society, and it should , there­ for e, be vitall y depend ent upon th e people. From th e people must come th e raw material , and th e college in turn should send back to the people young lives enrich ed and equipp ed for servi ce. F or the se import ant reasons I insist that th e rai sing of a large endowment is th e first step in buildin g a college or uni versity. But befor e an end owment can be secur ed we mu st as a chur ch make some arr angements fo r its prope r super vi'sion. No member is going to give fr eely of his means until he fully und erstand s the purp ose for whi ch it is to be used. And no man of business sense will give of his mean s until Ottr Educational Program. 73 he is convinced that plan s ha ve been work ed out carefull y, and that th e movement is properl y mann ed. When th e members of th e church are convinced that their money will not be misused and wasted , they will come forward with sufficient fund s to build a college second to none in the land . But until they are convinced they will give a bit her e and there with a hope that the y will live to see th e day when th e church will be able to receive and economicall y use their real and substantial gift s to Chri stian edu cation. I am remind ed ju st here of a situati on that developed in the early church. The number of disciples was multi ­ plied, and th ere aro se complaint that some of the poor widows were being neglected. Wh en this matter wa s brought to the att ention of th e twelve, they called th e multitude of disciples unt o them, and asked that they look among th em­ selves and select seven good, well pr epared men "whom we may appoint over thi s bu siness." Thi s was a matter of business, and as the record shows it was handled in a bu si­ nesslike way. Since we ar e fo llowers of th e ear Lychurch in man y other ways, may I suggest th at we take its lead in handling mat­ ters of bu siness? In thi s problem of education , which is one great problem of the church and one upon which the vitalit y of the chur ch depends, could not th ose most vitally int erested in Chri stian educati on call "th e multitude of disciples" to­ geth er to agree upon some plan of action ? Wh en th e plan of selectin g the seven was made known , it "pleased the whole multitud e." Should not th e selection of a number of well­ pr epar ed memb ers from among us to attend to our educa­ tional business be pleasin g to our entire membership ? Sur ely there can be found in the church not one fri end of education who would object. W e would all not only be glad but would rej oice to see bu siness handled in such a business-like way . . We should , then, at some early date have a general mass meeting where our different educational problems could be presented. Eve ry facto r that we have th at is making fo r Chri stian education should be pr esent , and feel fr ee to ·ex­ press its views. Ea ch repre sentati ve should come remem - 74 Abi lene Christ ian College Lectur es.

bering that he is representing that good, whol esome Chris­ tian influenc e which is so common in his communit y. At th e close of such a meet ing, permeated with Christian love , would be an ideal tim e to select fr om our number tho se memb ers whose duty it shall be to attend to our bu siness of educati on. Th ese men appointed would be able in a short tim e to formulate plan s for ou r educational progr am, and in due time could correlate all our efforts ipto one unit ed power for the purpose of drivin g th e curse of ignoranc e from among us. They would give stability and permanence to our educa­ tional effo rt s, and therefore, mak e possible a large endow­ ment , an esse ntial factor in the success of any Christian col­ lege. They could in th e light of the wishes of all the mem­ bers lift the ed ucat ional activities from the' realm of con­ fusion and rand om movement up to th e level of rational, purposive condu ct. Their program should be so planned as to ass ist th e chur ch in reac hing the goa l set for it by our Lord and Savior, namely th e real salt of the ea rth , th e light of- the world. Since our Fat her is unlimit ed in po wer and lead ership ; shou ld not his sons be capable of lead ing the rac es of men into th e light ? If Chri stians are bearing th e light for the world , they should place their light in the mo st advantageous position. A light mu st be at the fr ont in th e hand s of th e leade r, if it is to keep men fr om stumbling and falling . Th e light that fa lls too far behind becomes a mock ery . W e a re in clanger when mankind is pushing forward in th e march of lif e with the light far in the rea r. The world will be sa fe when its leaders are guided by the principles of Christianity; when th e church realizes its duty and gives to th e world trained Chri stian leaders, who stand in the front rank s of their professions with the light of Christianity expelling the darkn ess and mak ing plain the path of human progress . Then, and not until then, will the church of Christ render its real service to man kind by making th e world a safe place in which to Jive, -

CLE O. E. WALLAC E The Well-Armoured Man. 77

THE WELL-ARMOURED MAN. Bv Cu:o E. WALLAO:. The idea of armor first had ref erence to certain phy sical defen sive preparations for conflict. It very early, how eve r, wa s used figuratively to describe spiritual states, attitudes and mental bea ring . Horac e used the exp ression "aes trip­ lex circa pectus ," '' brea st enclo sed with triple br ass" as a symbol of indomitabl e courage . The moral e of th e soldier who went into battl e, the armor of his soul, meant incom ­ parably more than th e steel or brass plates which protected his body. Paul in the most exa lted spiritual sense ex hort s the Ephe sians to "P ut on the whole arm or of God. " He used the expression to summari ze the equipm ent of the Christian in the most int ense of all conflict s, that of the spiritual hosts of light again st th e '·spiritu al hosts of wick­ edne ss." Rob ert Loui s Stevenson in that delightful personal essay of his which he, following Horace, calls "Aes Trip­ lex ," declares that " courage and intelligence are th e two qualities best worth a good man' s cultivation. " The se two qua!iti es according to Stevenson should remov e all the terror from either life or death. "A frank and somew hat head­ long carriage, not looking too anxiou sly befo re, not clall.ying in maudlin regret over the pa st, stamps the man who is well armoured for this world." This address will be largel y confin ed to thing s religiou s. "S ons of Goel" is the supr eme expression of well-armoured manhood. Th ere can be no high er conception unl ess man would deify him self. Ind eed , it means nothin g less than that we are "the offspring of Goel," "a Goel in the ge rm ," a spark struck off from th e Pe rsonality of the Almight y. "Behold what mann er of love the Father hath bestowe d upon us , th at we should be called children of God; and such we are." ~nd what, pray , can be more becoming to a son of God than int elligent faith and steadfast courage ? They constitute th e sine qua non of a lif e armoured for the world. \,Vhat an impo sing thing is an abundant Christian faith! The big men who have achieved the greatest victories , who have left the largest foot-print s on th e sands of time, hav e 78 Abil ene Christian College L ectures. been men with strong conviction s, of great faith . Th e ex­ periences of a man like Paul are incredible until we see his faith. The full measure of persecution with all its harrow ­ ing experiences was his and he almost takes our br eath away by the chara cteri stic remark , "I ha ve learn ed in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. " A full explanation is found in such outbursts of fervor as th e following: " I can do all things in him that str engtheneth me;" "For which . cause I suffer also these thing s : yet I am not ashamed ; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I ha ve committed unt o him against th at day." And faith is no faith that is not worth a life in sacrifice. Th e man who does not have convictions that he would die fo; or who doe s not endorse his faith with his life is not armoured for the world. "vVhat thing s wer e gain to me the se have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all thing s to be less for the exce llency of the knowledge of Christ Jesu s my Lord ; for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count th em but refuse that I may gain Christ," is the testimony of the best armoured man of his tim e. He head ed straight into the furnace of persecution with no further thought for his life than that he might accompli sh his course and the mini str y which he received from the Lord Jesus. With a life bleeding on th e altar of faith and a heart bound with triple br ass this soldier fought his way to "the priz e of the high calling of God 111 Chri st Jesus." He was "O ne who nev er turn ed his back but marched breast forward, Never doubted cloud s would break, Neve r dr eamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph , . Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fighl better, Sleep to wake. " · He ran his race , like all of us can run ours, with a single mind. "B ut one thin g I do," the overpowering influenc e of the ideal which his faith kept before him gave him sweet immunit y from any paralysing terrors that might arise, like ghosts, out of th e pa st. Terror is a gob lin born of ignoran ce The We ll-Armour ed Man . 79

and un belief . "I know him whom I have believed" is tripl e bra ss before drago ns of fear. Faith in God is the leading motif of the wonderfu l dra ­ mati c stories of the O ld Te stame nt. "A nd it came to pass after th ese thing s that Goel cli d pro ve Abr aham" is th e way one of them begi11s. Y ears be fore Ab raha m had left hi s hom eland at the call of Goel, he wand ered abo ut as a so­ jo urn er "by fa ith ." Goel called him out und er the sta rs one night and told him that his seed wou ld be as innum erabl e as they. He was old and childless, his wife well past the age of bea rin g childr en, besides being natura lly ba rr en . Yet, when Goel prom ised him that he and Sarah, his wife, should be th e pa rent s of a son, I saac , Ab raham be! ievecl. T he marv el of his fa ith is the subj ect of a Pa ulin e tr ibut e: "Ye t looJ.:ing un to the pro mi se of Goel, he wave red not throug h unb elief, but wax ed strong through fa ith , giving glory to Goel, and being full y assur ed that what he had promi sed, he was able also to perform. " In clue t ime the child was born and became a vigorou s lad , the delight of his old pa rent s, the foun dat ion of all their hopes. A 11t hat Cod had prom ised Abraham was to come thr ough Isaac. "And it came to pa ss afte r the se things that Goel did pro ve Ab raha m." In a te rse comm and with out exp lanation Cod told Ab raham to take the boy an d offer him as a burnt -offering upon a certa in mou n­ tain. The old man didn 't understand , th e comm and came quick and un exp ected and mu st have b roken hi heart. He asked no qu estion s. H e mad e no compla int s. He did n ot tarry. He aro se ea rly in the morning , took two of hi s yo ung men and the lad of dream s and promi ses and went to th e fated moun tain. H e took wood and fire and a KNIFE. T here is no doubt as to his pur pose, although th e boy was ignorant of it. Quickly and silently he erected th e alta r of ston es, boun d th e boy and laid him th ereon. He slipped his left arm abo ut the boy's neck and dr ew him to h is hea rt . W i_th jaw set tight he raised the knife for a quick decisive · thru st and ...... "Ab raham stop" cried an angel as he reach ed down out of heaven and grabbed him by the arm. "A br aham believed God. " In the light of "s o great a fa ith" 80 Abi lene Christian College Lec tures. we un derstand why "he was called the £fiend of God" and why God loved him so. Th e cause of Chri st needs men today of "a like prec ious faith ;" reverent men with holy lives and deep conv ictions ; men "afi re with God" who can fight. As I am a young ma n, I will be pardon ed if I have young men in my mind 's eye in thi s part of the discussion . As I view the matter th e young man who walks int o the pulpit today, goes in wit h an un - paralled opport unit y for th e signal service ...... if he goes in well-arm our ed with an intelligent fa ith and a fighting spirit. Th e pulpit of the Chur ch of Christ is no place for your nice littl e men who are so "liberal" and "b road " that they have no conviction s. That kind had bett er stay off the firing-lin e. T hey ar e liable to get hurt. God is calling big men int o H is work who are not afraid to te ll folk s what He want s done with an exclamat ion point afte r it. If you ar e not tha t kind , sail on to smoother seas. T he pulpit can't use you. Th e man of God has a charge to keep. He kn ows whom he has believed and has a pos itive message fo r the world. Dogmatic he may appea r to he .and can affo rd to be when God ha s spok en ; vaci llating, never. His att itud e towa rd s his ta sk is fully set for th in the two letter s Pa ul wrote his spiritu al son, Timothy . Th e fathe r is helping the son to bind his armo ur on. "O, T imothy , guard that whic h is committ ed unt o th ee, turnin g away from th e profa ne bab ­ blings and oppos itions of the know ledge which is falsely socalled; which some profe ssing have er red concernin g the faith." I T im. 5 :20-32. Th e son is exhort ed to "p reach the word," to be ur gent in reproof an d ex hort ation; to "give heed to reading to exhort at ion to teac hin g . . . . be diligent in th ese thing s. . . . tak e heed to thyself and thy teac hing ... . fo r in doing thi s thou shalt save both thyself and th em that hear thee." I Tim. 4 :13-16. H is is a mes sage of lif e and death ent ru ted to him by the Father for deliverance to a world sorely beset. He mu st deliver that message as it is given to him without any concern whatever for the "tas tes, feelings and conven iences of th e peop le." "Fo r am I now seeking the favo r of men, or of God? or am I striv- - Th e /;// ell-A rrHoured Man . 81

ing to please men ? if l wer e still pleas ing men I would not be a servant of Chri st." Gal. 1 : 10. Th e preacher ·who keeps his ear to the gro und or plays lo th e gallerie s is con­ tempti ble beyond any descript ion. If thi s were the age of mir acles he would suffer the fate of N aclab and Abihu; he is an A nan ias in th e sight of Cod. Ther e is a lot of fool ish ta lk in the air to the effect that the gospel and the chur ch of toda y mu st adapt themselves to the changin g demand s of a new age. The man of God mu st conte nd for th e "old paths ." He mu st make men un­ derstand that the chur ch is th e sanctuary of Goel and has the blood of Chr ist on it ; that it is holy as the dwelling ­ place of God in the Spiri t. It is not a place for entertain­ ment , but a spiritu al hospital where diseased humanity may receive tr eatm ent from the Great P hysician . Those who try to make th e church "attractive" by mea ns of novel ap­ peal s to the sensuous are guilty of sacrilege. Neither chur ch nor gospel of the New Testament can be improved upon. God H imself plant ed the seed of redemption six thousand yea rs ago and it grew through Pa triarch al and Jewi sh dis­ pensation s and matur ed in Chri st. " It was the good pleasure of the fat her that in him should all fullne ss dwe ll ...... th at in all thing s he might have the preeminence ... . throu gh him to rec oncile all things to him self ." Col. 1: 19- 20. " In him dwelleth all the fuln ess of th e God -head bodily ..... In him ye are mad e full. " Col. 2 :9. The gospe l which came thro ugh Chri st fo r the healing of the nation s "is not after man " but came by revelat ion . Even the angel s of God are not allow ed to alt er it . It is called the "faith once for all delivered to the saint s." It is the faith of th e well-armoured man. H e must not tickle "itching ears ." To consistentl y maintain thi s attitude requir es courage of the most pronounced type. The man who does it must have a genuin e fighting spirit. "Fig ht the good fight of faith ," "war the good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience" were wr itt en to encour age his kind . Th e wor ld is demand ing to day some sort of organic tinion of con­ flicting secta rian bodies in lieu of the genuine unity for which Chri st prayed , In the fac~ of the strongest !

ness, self-control and judgment to come!" Hear his elo­ quent appeal to Ag ripp a and know him as the master cham­ pion of a great cause , " th e noblest Roman of th em all." "S uffer hard ship with me as a good soldier of Christ J esus" are words fitly spoken by such a man. Th e axe that sent his head rolling and bleeding didn 't make a scratch upon his in vincible courage. · Daniel was a kindr ed spirit and worthy of glorious imi­ tation. He is first introduced to us as a noble "youth in whom wa s no blemish , but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and endued with knoweldge, and understand­ ing science, and such as had ability to stand in the king's palac e." Young men of such attainments were always popular in corrupt oriental courts and it was not a matter for wonder when the king selected Daniel , the young foreigner, as a favorite and ordered that he be taught the "learning and tongue of the Chaldeans." The king among other things appointed for him "a daily portion of the king' s dainti es, and of the wine which he drank." But the youth, Daniel, unlik e some of the young men of the present day who are "endued with knowledge and under­ sta nd science" or think they do, had decided religious con­ viction s which he had brought into captivity with him . He was conscientiously opposed to either eating the king's dainties or drinking his wine. It was contrary to his re­ ligion. Only a well-armoured man , one with faith alH;i courage, could hav e with stood the extraordinary tempta­ tion. "B ut Daniel purpo sed in his heart that he would not defile him self with the king' s dainties , nor with the wine which he drank. " God was with him and he carried out his purpose and kept his conscience clear. He was com­ paritively alone in his• conviction s as the majority were all on the other side. By prudence and wisdom Daniel was promoted until he became second to none in the king­ dom except the kin g. He had many rivals and enemies who watc hed vainly for some fault in his life as a weapon to discredit him . "Bu t they could find no occasion nor fault , foras111uch as he was faithful, neith er was there ;my err or or fault found in him . Then said these men , 84 Ab ilene Christ-ian C allege Lee titres.

We shall not find any occasion against this Dan iel, exce pt we find it against him concernin g th e law o f his God." They knew that Daniel was unyielding in his loyalty to God. So th ey prevail ed upon th e king to sign an edict forbidding the wor ship of any god save th e king. Th en they watch ed Dani el. "A nd when Daniel knew that th e writing was signed, he went into his house, ( now his win­ dows were open in his chamb er towa rd Jeru salem) ; an d he kneeled upon his knees thr ee t imes a day, and pra yed. and gave thank s befor e his God, as he did afor etim e." "AS HE DID AF ORETIME !" W hat a wonderful demon­ stration of manh ood!! Th ey put Da niel into the lions' den, but he came out again for "he had tru sted in his Goel." And old Micaiah ! Ah, but he was wonderful! Rugged, fearless prophet of God he was, discredited and in prison as most of God 's proph ets were, the few that were left, in the days of Ahab and Elij ah. Ahab and J ehosaphat sat each on his royal thron e. Ahab called out his four hun ­ dred prophets of Baal , tho se flatterin g liars of his idolatrou s worship , and had th em recomm~ncl th e cour se that he wanted to pursue - to go clown to Ramoth- Gileacl to battl e. Jehosaphat was a nominal worshipper of Jehovah and had a little conscience left. Thing s didn 't look orthodox and he called for a pro phet of God. Ahab clouded up and sent a messenger to bring Micaiah fr om his prison cell. "A nd the messenger that went to ca11 Micaiah spake un to him , saying, Behold now , the word s of the prop hets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word , I pray thee. be like the word of one of th em and speak thou good." How nice it would be for Micaiah to contribute to the beautiful unit y prevailin g among th~t notable assembly of kings and proph ets. But Micaiah mu st have been "an old crank. " "And Micai ah said , As Jehovah liveth, what J ehovath saith unt o me, that will I speak." A ncl into th e presence of the king he ,valked, looked him in the eye without a tr emor and delivered God's message . T he king was furious but to the everlasting glory of Micaiah he didn't compromi se an inch . The Well-Armoured Man . 85

"A nd what shall I mor e say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David an d Samu el and the prophets; who through faith sub­ dued kingdom s, wrough righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth s of lions, quenched the power of fire, escape d the edge of th e swo rd , from weakness were made strong , waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens." The se men come as a "great cloud of witnesses" out of the past with a supreme message for the men of the pr esent. Without exception they tesitify that abiding faith in God and invincible courage in the execution of His will fill the meas ur e of the well-armoured man

F. L. ROW E Tfie Relig,ion for Today. 89

THE RELIGION FOR TODAY . Ev F, L. Row E:. Our secu lar papers have been· very prompt in telling us, now that the war is over, what mu st be the religion of the futur e. They base th eir declaration on the demand th at they say th e boys, who have been in the tr enches, are making , whereby will be brought about a harm onizing of the religiou s dfferences that have existed since colonial days. It is really wonderful how much profound wisdom ( or remarkable ignorance) these city pape rs possess regarding the purpose of God, the mission of his Son, and the divine plan of salvat ion as revea led to us in the teaching of his Son. To listen to th ese edito rs today we are told, from the standpoint of the boys who have been thrown in contact with all forms of religion , of no religion, and of open hostility to all religion, that th e future basis for church activity must be estab lished on morali ty, uprigl1teousness and a square deal. These boys tell us that the ar my chaplain, the camp pasto r and religiou s workers , as such. were not regarded with favor; but that these individuals were treated like any of the re st of the boys if they made themselves one of the boys. In other words, th at the boys in the tr enches did not have mu ch use for any doctrin al teaching, or any religion that set itself up as opposed to any other form of religion. It has been valuable inform ation, howeve r, to learn through these religiou s workers, that the boys in the trenches were · most studiou s in reading th eir littl e pocket testa ments in what littl e seclusion they could obtain; and that the word of God had not lost its power when the boys found time to enjoy it as a source of information or for individual comfort. We can rejoice, therefore, in knowing that the word of God, or the Gospel, is still th e power of God, whether that power is exe rted in the church es, in the quiet of the countr y home , or in the trench on the firing line . Anoth er thing that has been revealed by the se boys in their reading , is their admiration for a charact er like Paul. Those who have been with them say that as a result of their reading Paul has become their embodiment of all that :s noble and manly , They aqmjre him becr1,i15tthey say he 90 Abilene Christian College Lectures. was so much a man that when he found he was mistaken he was not ashamed to admit it. Let us be comforted , there­ fore , in feeing that the present wa r has aided the cause of our Master by bringing the se boys in direct and persona l touch with the Gospel. Let us do our part in helping them, now that they are coming home, to better und erstan d the meaning of the Scriptures and ass ist them to properly grasp it and to appropriate it to th eir own needs. If this result of the war should lead to th e salvation of thousands of souls, we can feel re lieved that the war, after all, was for some spiritual purpo se, as well as for some great international up­ lift through human agencies. Paul's work, as an indi vidual and through his writings, was wholly constructive. He sought not his own elevation, but rather to lift Christ up in th e hearts and minds of the people . Our own nation, as a party to this terrible war, had no selfish purpose to advance, but assisted from a purely humanitarian motive that others may be blessed through the sacrifices that our noble boys have made . Paul as an individual is not known to have been person­ ally attractive, nor possessed of eloqu ent speech; and doubt­ less when he entered the city of Ath ens the people look ed at him dersively and wondered who he was an d what hi s pur­ pose. Paul also quickly sized them up and soon perceived that they were idle talk ers , always wanting to hear some new thing. Their intere st in him was concentr ate d in the cynical query, "What will this babbler say?" What he said then ha s come on down through the ages, even to the present time, and we still hear him with wide-open mouth and eager ears, and drink in of his spiritual wisdom that we may conform more and more to the divine liken ess . The religion of Paul has not chang ed from the time Paul spoke to the Athenians or addressed him self to Agrippa . The same eternal truths stand out as fundamental to our conti nuan ce as individual Christian s and as collective organizations. Men , through their so-called wisdom, hav e changed mu ch truth into de­ liberate lies, so that good men are misled, con fu sed and lost. The fault is not in the truth, but in the failure of men to honestly present that truth ; and in the inability, or unwill - jngne ss, of men to inv~stigate to know the tr uth , wh ish is able , · ..._ • • • • • - • • • -., • • • • _, ' ' • I ' ~ ., T he Religion /or Today. 91

to make them free. The quiet study of the Scriptures by the boys in the trenche s is bringing the boys to a knowledge of the truth in a way that they will be quick to defend it when they hear it perverted by tho se who claim to be leader s of the people. The wor d of the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Gospel that was needed at the time of Christ is th e Gospel for today. In spite of what the newspapers tell us, there is nothing that we can change and there is nothing that needs changing, except that men's minds must become more susceptible to the truth and evince a willing­ ness, yea eagerne ss, to receive the truth . Personally, I rega rd our so-called "modern critics" as far more dangerou s than all the books written by Voltaire , or other infidels. Modern critici sm is a miserable camouflage that has made wreck of thousands of precious souls. Vol­ taire as an infidel came out four-square in his opposition to the Bible, and we know exactly his position and expect no ad missions or concessions or apologies from him. While we, therefore, admir e his frankne ss as contrasted with the in­ sincerity and infidelity of modern critics, we are neverthe­ less made to smile as we recall the total failure of the prophe sies made by Voltaire and others. Hi s name even would be forgotten toda y if our pulpit speakers did not constantly refer to him . Other infidels , who have lived and profit ed by so much per · night from the gullibility of de­ luded people, who wanted comfort for their perverted lives, would also be relegated to the rear and be long ago forgot­ ten if we did not bring them back to point out the results of their misdirected energy. Voltaire was bold to say, that within one hundred years from the time he wrote, the Bible would be a fo rgott en book. Over against that rash proph­ esy he tri ed to calculat e the influence of the life and death of our Lord, whose words are read daily in six hundred and fifty distinct langu ages in every portion of the globe. Ve rily the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. It ha s been calculated by Bible publishers that nearly seven hundred million volumes of the word of God, in whole or in part, have been circulated since the art of print- 92 Abil ene Ciiristian Coliege Leciur d.

ing was invented. The Briti sh Bible Hou se today contain s records of editions of the Scriptur es in about seven hundred and twenty-five languages and dial ects. Thi s total include s the complete Bible in one hundr ed and forty different forms of speech . During the past ten yea rs th e Scriptur es have appeared in a new language on an average of one every six weeks. During the peri od of the war four million copies of the New Testament hav e been given to the boys in the service. During the first four years of the war the British and American Bible Societies issued the Scriptures in eighty-five languages or dialects , which mean s that that many tongues have been involved in this present world war. Now that the period of reconstruction and readju stment is upon us, what must be the religion for today? I have already told you that the big newspape rs tell us that we must shape it to meet the changed views of the boys coming home; but if I can read between the line s, I cannot see that the boys are asking us to change the word of God. It may be that they will demand that we preach the Gospel the way it is written, and I believe they will, because the boys have had lessons through their terrible experiences over seas that will cause them to think seriously of every­ thing for the rest of their days. They will look upon life in a way that life had never before impre ssed itself. They see new respon sibilities that they did not know th ey would have to assume . They recognize, in a degree never before considered, the importance of nobility in life , the value of truth, as well as the highest in personal character. Their serious consideration of everything will make them equally serious in matters spiritual-in their defen se of God's word that it may be properly and hon estly presented. In this way the boys are going to be a powerful incentive for more ii;itense preaching than we have ever heard . Are we going to take advantage of our opportunity to use these boys to the glory of God while the y are in this serious mood ? The church has a great work befor e it; a work that should be impressed upon the church in a way that the church has never realized it before. These boys in your own homes, in your own towns, in your own audiences, are not the only ones to reach, but The R eligion f or Today. 93 they are th e one s that we should work especially hard fo r, because of the great valu e they will be to the chur ch when we once enlist their effort s und er ~he Captain of our Sal­ vation . Acco rdingly the duty of t·he chur ch mu st be im­ pre ssed and the chur ches stirr ed up to greate st act ivity. I am glad to find that our semi-religious and even secular pape rs a re ur ging the importance of this agitat ion. I want you to hea r what the Sen ti11e-/ of Toronto ha s recently sa id along this line: "A ny chur ch will not do. Chr istianit y is an appea l to the individu al con cience. 'Let ,~very man be fully per­ suad ed in his own mind ,' says the Scriptur es. If any be­ liever will give th e Bible a reaso nabl e exa mination he will certainly arri ve at definit e conclu sions. Truth is eternal and worth y of the most dliig ent sea rch . Pro testa nti sm app eals to each individu al to sea rch until he finds it. Those who teach that it is not necessary to have any definite ideas will naturally drift toward R oman ism, where layme n are not expecte d to exe rcise their God-given int elligence in re­ ligiou s matters. T he Reformat ion did not produce a new religion . It was a return to th e primitiv e truth. True Prot esta nt s believ e that Protestan ism is the purest form of Christianity, and the nearest approac h to what is taught in the word of God. I t ha s stood the test of time. If th e war has shown anyt hing it has prove n the value of, and emphasized the self- sacri fi.cing spirit of, Protesta nti sm. Why attempt to alter, or abo lish that which ha s stoo d the test ? T hose who wou ld abo lish definite beliefs are no friends of Prote sta nti sm, and their propaga nda will be re­ sented by eve ry true Prote stant. It is still right to 'prove all thing s, hold fast that which is good. ' CJ1ristianity is the sum and substa nce of all truth, and cannot be impro ved upon. It is foolish to strik e at the fo und ation of Protest­ anti sm until something else mor e closely approac hing Christianity is discove red. " I also wa nt you to hear what one of our E ngli sh church pape rs ( th e Bibl e Advocate) has said along the same line: "'vVe ar e all rejoi cing that the wa r is over. A great many question s, however, yet remain to be sett led. The nati on and the chur ch mu st mak e ea rnest pr eparation for 94 Abilen e Chris tian College L ectur e.5'. the coming day s of peace. \Ve want a new wor ld. T he church of the living God ex ists to make known the Divine will, to bring to the wor ld the tr easur es of grace and tru th of whi ch it has the stewa rd ship : and this it can do by prea ching Christ and Hirn crucified. * * * "Now, therefore , is the hour of the chur ch of Chri st. Before her stand s open a door of opportunity which no man can shut . Let her ente r with the message of hop e and brotherhood. God is the Creato r of the new wor ld, not man; man shall be the laborer. It has been well said that if there were no God we should have to invent one; for if man is the high est thing in the wor ld, th e world is insane. But God ha s revea led Him self to us in the person of H is Son. Have we seen that D ivine vision? If so, th en the form er thin gs shall not be remembered, nor come int o mind ; we shall labor to get th e Spirit of the Chr ist into all hum an life. "Three thing s mu st be clearly seen by us in all our work. ( 1) The Cros s of Christ revea ls th e terrib le earnest­ ness of the Divin e gove rnm ent in dealing with tran sgres­ sors; it show s that the ends of goodne ss are impo ssible if the demands of ju stice are not satisfied. (2) Chri st is the Exemplar of mor al herois m ; He .:ame to do the will of H is Father, and He was fa ithful to th at unt o death. (3) A personal conscious acceptance of the Saviour is everywhere taught in th e New Testam ent as being th e condition of sal­ vation. And ther e mu st be the individual regenerat ion befo re there can be th e collective newne ss in our day." I also want you to hear one of the tersest statem ent s I ever read and one that to my mind show s mo re of th e rea l heart in it th an any similar document I ever saw. Thi s is sent out by the P ublicat ion Comm itte of our chur ches in England, and is an appea l to the boys from the chur ches as they return from the firing line to engage in the more enduring and sati sfying service )f fighting fo r the Lo rd of Lord s and th e K ing of K ings. Listen and weigh every word of thi s wonde rful appea l to th ese Br itish soldier s: "OPEN LE'l"J'ER 'l'O DEMOBILIZED CHURCH Ml~MDERS. "B rother s all, "Th ank God you are giving up the stern, sad duti es of The Religion f or Today. 95 war. Yo u have been bro ught sa fely through severe peril by land and sea. The gates of a new life have now been opened to you by the Father of all merc ies. "Yo ur restoration to us is not only a matter of unspea k­ able joy, but one of immense importan ce. We missed you from our chur ches when you went out. We have prayed without ceasing for your sa fe ret urn . Our prayers are answered- we believe with a purpo se. The churches unite in declaring thei r welcome home to you all. An increasing desire for a great forward moveme nt is in the atm osphere . In that victor ious advance we need every man of you. Like you, we are dissat isfied at the meag re result s of so many yea rs. We want to share not only the idea, but th e powe r and rea lity, of a reconstructed Brit ain. " Call it by what nam e we will, we are quite certain the best and most endurin g of all regenerativ e forces is New Te stament Chri stianit y. To advocate the claims of Christ and to spread the trut hs preached by His Apost les is our joint aim. "Yo ur choice of occupation may not yet be decided . The call of Chri st and the need of thi s countr y for preach­ ers of a fu ll-orb ed salvati on adm its of no denial , and allows of no delay. \i\!hy not make your mind up to this , th e most honorab le of all calling s ? You feel your own limitation s ! There is no work for you un less you do ! Chr ist cann ot use men, who ar e self- sufficient. Yo ur sense of inadequacy is not any reason why you should hold back from this exa lted Cru sade. Tod ay th is is more than ever true. Many of you hav e become what you are by training-no t by in­ clination . Once you were raw and re luctant recruit s, per­ haps. Now you ar e inf erior to none in your fitness as soldiers. "'vVe have to remind you that you will have an oppo r­ tunit y of tr aining for the glor ious campai gn to which the Saviour- Captain calls. A Training College is in formation. Her e everything likely to mak e you acceptab le and fit as prea chers will be at your disposal. T he arra ngements are almost complete. "Th e peoples of this land , already safe fro m the peri l of foes that are seen, can only bt;: savecl from spiritual dis- 96 Abi lelle Christian College Lectures. aste r if men, real men, will tak e them Chri st's redemptive message. \Ve in the chur ches .1re deter mined to help you all we can. V./e want to see not 16,000 only, but thousan ds more set for th e propagat ion of a simple but sufficient gospe l. · "Lend your ears to this call- ded icate your lives to this sublime end. Ma ke thi s Home land a verit able H abitation of God, to the blessing of the generatio ns fo r whom so man y of you have fo ught an d so many of you r comr ades have fall en. May your thought s be dir ected from above in thi s momen tous day of oppo rtunit y ! · With hearti est greet ings, Tm ~ GE N ERAL EvAN GJ~LI ST Co MM I1'TEE ." Not only mu st th e chur ch throug hout the wor ld be awa ke to these splendid opportunities, but we mu st also have fait hful men in every congr egation who know the trut h and can def end it. One of the great rea sons for our weak ness in some sections has been th e lack of spiritu ally­ mind ed men, who are sufficientl y impressed wit h the truth to realize th eir great responsibility to the God of Heaven . Too many tim es our elders are officials and nothing else. Often we will find that th e deacons are incomp etent and with out much local prest ige. V./e mu st bring to the front and keep at the fr ont our stronge st and brainiest men­ men vvho hav e been tested and found capable and ready . We mu st have leade rs who can act as generals in dire cting the act ivities of th e hom e work. It they can act as ove r­ seers and simply direct the act ivities and act as wat chmen on th e tower, all well an d good. but we mu st have met) prot ecting every inch of groun d if 1Ye expect to hold that ground and to advance int o new territory. \Ve mu st have men so th oroughly consecrat ed that they are willing and ready to lay down their lives for the trut h. \A.Te read aboi.1t such thin gs in Pa ul's. ex perience, but we don't often see it where we happen to live. Vle must have men who are able and readv to spr ing to the front and defend the bann er of J esus Chri st. Per haps I can illustrat e my mean ing by thi s illustration , which ii>a .n xpe rience J )1qcj sorne ears ago , 1 took r1, The R eligion f or Today. 97

trip through the Thou sand Island s of the St. Lawrence Ri ver. T hat year had been an unu sually dry one through­ out the nortb and even the Great La kes were reported to be a foot lower. T here are thr ee series of rapids through the St. Law rence, the third being the mo st dangerous . They are known as the Lac hii1e Rapid s. T he boat we were on was a pleas ur e craft operated fo r sightsee rs and was es- - pecial!y built for the narrow channel. O f course, there wer e great masses of rock in the cour se of the ri ver, some of wh ich was not visible, but every rock was known to th e pilot. As we entere d the rapids I could notice th e terrific speed at which we were going by observing objects on the shore. We were dashing through the wat er with almost the speed of an express tra in . The average passenger was ignorant of any particula r danger, but as I recalled the fact that the ri ver was lower than commo n, I was made to realiz e that we were in rea l danger. and I regard ed it as almost foolhardy to have taken such a risk. I glanced once at the pilot house and saw the faithfu l pilot wit h his eye fixed on the cour se and holding the little boat under cont rol. but a mom ent or two later our boat gave a sudd en lur ch vvith such force as to thro "v nearly every passenger to his knee s. My first thought wa s, "We are gone." In ­ volunt arily I looked to the pilot house again and there, instead of one man at th e wheel, were five men and a sixth one stood by for emergency . Th ese men sprang to the wheel at just the right time. The cur rent of the river was such that the one man could not have held the vesse l in the narrow channel and avoided the rocks . The other men were there when needed. A second or two late r all wou ld have been lost. Thi s illustr ation driv es home the responsib ility of the standard-b earer s in the Churc h of Tesus Chr ist. \,Ve must ha ve men today who are equal to any emergency that may develop; men who can sta nd by and see the ship of _Zion sailing peacefu lly in still wat ers or where the curr ent is not dangerou , but men who ar read , when th e call for 98 Abilene Christian College Lectures. help is heard to spring to the front and take their hand at the wheel and help guide the old craft through the danger­ ous rapids and bring it safely again into the calm waters below. / G. DALLAS SMITH ' f:f! iiy Study the Bibl e? 101

WH Y STUDY THE BIB LE ?

Bv G. DAI . LAS SMI 'fH . The study of the Bible is of vital and supreme importance , ::1J '( to the whole human race. To Timothy in the Jong ago, Paul A/ said , "Study to show th yself ap,p_roved unto God , a workman I' that needeth not to be asham ed, rightly dividing the word nf truth" (2 Tim. 2:15) . Tim_othy had been reared under quite favorable circums ta n.ces, m that his mother and his grandmother were both women of faith; they believed in and worshiped the God of our fatfier s. This mother, no doubt, and probably the grandmoth er, had taught Timothy , the Holy Scriptures from his youth ; for Paul says, "that ).. ,,... from a child thou hast known the sacr ed writings which are ~ ', I ahle_t.a_ma.ke.. .thee · unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Timothy had known the sacred writings from a child. But where is the child today that knows the Holy Scriptures? \,\There are the young people who know the sacred writings ? n w ere are tlie older ~o le of whom it may be truthfully said they know the Holy Scriptures? WHERE ARE THEY ? Our chil- dren may enter the first grade of our public schools and pass from grade to rade until th ey are graduat ed, and still know nothing a out God's great book-the Bible. They may enter the higher schools and training schools and grad- uate with honors from the se, and still be almost as ignorant of the Bible as they were when they first saw the light . They may enter the colleges and universities of the land and graduate from these with high honors and still know prac- tically nothing about the greatest book in all the world. I do not mean to criticise the public schools, the colle es and universities. It is not thei r:._miss1on to teach the 1ole, or religio-n~- In the main, they are strictly literary institutions. But I am merely stating the facts as they really exist. One may be indeed learned and brilliant without a knowledge of the Bible, but no one is truly educated-in th e truest and best sense-as long as he is ignorant of the sacred writings . It ha s been said , " e cate ~ ~ ean man , you mak e him ~ e! still." If I believed this I shoula ·favor the closing 102 Ab ilene Christian C allege Lech ,tres.

of all educational ihstituti ons ; fo r there is more or less meanne ss in all of us. But while it is not tru e. th at educa ­ tion mak es a mean man meaner, still it is tru e that an educated mean man is a greater enemy to society than the uneducat ed mean man -a ll becau s,e he is more capab le of evising and scheming , and of execu tin g his wick ed schemes by virtue of his educati on. Th e fa ult lies in th e charact er of the . education. Th e mental facu lties are tra ined and de·­ veloped while th e moral facu lties ofte n go und eveloped. We should plead for an educati on that develops one phys­ ically, mentally and morally. But such an education is impossibl e if we do not take into acco unt the one Great Book-the book of sacred wri tings. There are many reason s high and holy why we sho11lcl s.h!dy ilie_Bj.ble,.as we do no other book in the world. There are vital and eternal reason s why we should know the Bible as we know no other book in the wo rld. In the first _£lace, no on o ocl withol1t kn owing th e Bible. We can­ A not know Goel as he is wit hout a Bible edu cation. Oh, we may have heard about him ; we may kn ow some things about him; but we cannot know him as he really is unJ,ess vve know him as he is revealed in his holy word. To Solomon , in the long ago, Da vicl said, "Thou , my son, Solomon , rno tb.9u the Goel of thy father s, and serve him with a perfec t heart and w1fha willing mincl." And it is just as necessa ry for us to know Goel as it was for Solomon to know him , and the only way for us to know him is to study his revela­ tion-kno w him as he is revealed. From th e famo us A reop­ agus in - S:-Pa ul addressed an educated', cultured and refiiied audi ence; an d, among other thing s, he said to them : "I perceive that you are very religious, for as I passed by, an

blessings came. And it is possible today for people to be learn ed, cultur ed and refined, and still be ignorant of the God fr om whom all blessings flow. It is not only possibl e for it to be thu s, but we ar e living in th e midst of just such conditi ons right now. Many of the most learned, cultured and refined, fr om a wo rldly v iewpoint , are grossly, densely a~ efull y ignorant of th e fundamental principles of Gor,.l's revelatio th e human race; and, therefore , ignorant of Goel, of cour se. W e can never come to know God through the wisdom of thi s world. To the church at Corinth Paul said: "F or aft er tf1at in th e wisdom of God the world by its wisdom kn ew not God, it pleased God by the foolish­ ness of preaching to save th em that believe." (I. Cor . 1 :21). H e says, "The world through its wisdom knew not Goel." And we may truthfully add, that the world through its wisdom cannot know God. But is it not R,ossible to know God through _the book of Nature? Does not Nature in all its iieauty and glory speak to us of him who in the begin­ ning created all things? The condition of countless thou­ sands among the heathen nations today, many of whom are close stud ents of Nature , but who do not know the God of their spirits , answer s in thunder tones, NO! As a matter of fact . man left to thr stuqy of Nature, without a revela­ tion, f I to wo.i:sh-ipping Nature. He is never able to see through Nature to the. God who stands behind it. In the long ago, the :E:gyptians who lived on the batiks of the historic River Nile,a iscovered that as a result of the annual overflow th ere · was left a sediment which enriched their lands and gave th em abundant harvests. But they did see through all this and recognize the God of heaven as the giver of all good ? No, the fell to worshipping th e River Nile, and it be­ came a sacred nver to them. When Primeval man, in ages past, began to study the heavens, he observed that the rising sun dispell ed the mists and fogs and set all Nature to singing . BJJ_tdid .he discover in all this the God of Nature who stands behind the Sun ? No, he f ell down and wor­ shipped the sun. And when the sun went down behind the west ern hills, and the stars began to blossom, one by one, 104 Ab ile11e Chris tian College Lectures.

"in the infinite meadow s of heaven," "fo rever singing as they shin e the hand that made us is divine ," di pnm1I1ve man hear th e "mu sic of th e s1cies" and discover lhe nnr l who spake tliew orlds into ex istence? No t at all. He becam e a star worshippe r. No wo nder Pa ul savs. "The world throu gh its wisdom knew not God." There is just one way_ to know God, and that is to know the sacred writ­ ings- to kn o v tlie Bible. But does not David say, "The heaven s declare the glory of God, and the firm ament showeth - 'h is handiwork ?" Yes, the heavens do declare the glory of God, but only to the man who knows God cr-eated them. The heave ns do not declare the glory of God to the man who is igno rant of God. 'vVe can kn ow God only through his revelation- by studying his word. ' v\Te should study the Bible, also, as a means of kn owing Jesu s our Savio·. We can know great and promment me~ with o1_1t k.!!_owing the Bible, but we cannot f now the man Chri st Jesus, "t he man of sorrow s and acquainted with gri ef" unl ess w e, know God' s revelation respecting him . One day while Je sus sat at Jacob' s well near the city of Sychar, or ancient Shech em, a ~o man of Samaria came to draw wat er and he as)

Jes us- all beca1,ise they did 11ot k11ow hi1,n, andUhey clid not know him because they did not kn ow th e Scr iptur es. ome years ago back in l'enne ssee a man shot and kille one o[ 11is best friends who had dri ven till late in the night that he might spend the remainder of the night with him . The man ~' had had some troubl e with another man during the after- noon , and his life had been th reatened. He went home and retir ed, expect ing tro uble before mornin g, and the refore prepar ed for it. His fri end drov e up to the fr ont gate late in the. night , and invit ed him out. He, thinking it was the man who had thr eatened his lif e, opened the door and fired the contents of his gun into th e body of his fri end . It was a pitiful circumstance , and gen uin ely regrette d by th e friends of both men. So it is a pitifu l wai l th at goes up from t11e Jew s of Jerusalem when Pete r convinces them that they ha ve cru cified their own Messiah. They at once cry out and say, "Me n and brethr en. what shall we do ?" (Acts 2 :37). They ha d killed, not only their best fri end , but their Sav ior and Redeemer , just because they did not !wow him- ju st because th ey did not know the Scriptur es pertaining to him .

But is it of so much importance that we know God i 1 ,P and Jesus? Is it essent ial to our salvatio n to know them ? 7,..... The importance of knowin g Goel is sugges ted and empha - sized by the apostle Paul when, in wr iting to the chu rch at The ssa lonica, he says: "To you ·who are troub led, rest with us, when th e Lord J esus shall be revea led from heaven with l his mighty ange ls, in flaming fire , takin vengeance on them '' that know not Goel." ( II. Thess . 1 ·Z-.SJ Since J esus, when he comes, is to 'i:a

on our knowing the Bible. And ou r knowing the Bible de­ pends on our studyi!1g th e Bible. Hence we sho ula all heed tfie admonition to "St udy to show thy self approved unto God." (/'\, p And again, we should stud y the Bible as a means of tJ:::'.1,yr knowin the. great plan salvat ior!. which was wrought V out 111 the lif e work of Jesus and sealed by his own preciou s \ iO f.. . G blooc~. Jer~mi~h says: _"O L?rd, I know that the wa7 of C:)1- ,ya· man 1s not 111 h1111self; 1t 1s not 111 man that walketh to direct ' his steps." (Jere . 10 :23). And this is the very reason 7.., why God has given us a rev elation. If man were capab le of directing his own steps , he would have no need for a guide­ book. Il_ all men knew intuitively just how to be saved - . just how to cltrect th eir steps and alter their ways, so as to meet the divine approva l, then we would not need this reve­ l~ But God has graciousl yre vea leo the plan of salva­ tion to us beca use it was an abso lut e necessit~ Just as the eunuch in the long ago neede 1 n~ t uide -him , since 1e 1ad not the New T estam ent scriptures to guide him. just so man today need s a guide in matt ers to religion , and God ha s given us the Bible for thi s _purpo se. But is it nec~ ­ sary to _know the Ian of ~ lvati on ? Is it. necess ary to know 1 saved? Suppos e. one doe s what he hone stly thinks is right , maintai ning at all times a good clear conscience. can he not be saved in this wa y? T he fact that Jesus sent the a les into the wor ld to proclaim and make known the plan of salvati on, with the assurance that the y would be .12ersecuted, shame full ~ ated. even l · led for the perform ­ ance of this duty, show s tfiat it is necessa ry for the wor ld t~ w the plan of salvat ion. \,Vhy sho uld Je sus subj ect the apost les to such labor and toi l, persecution and death, if a man can be saved without knowing the plan of salva tion. Furth erm ore , Jesu s says, "If the blind lead th e blind , both will fa ll into the ditch." (Matt. 15 :14) . It rratters not how hon est one may be, if he is blin o the truth , and is led by some one who is blind to th e sa me truth , he and the leade r both will be lost. Th ere is no other construction to place on J esus' languag e. ~ We §houl

born e and is bearing even today . Hav e you stopped to con­ si er what the Bible has done for the world of mankind ? It has made bett er hom es, bett er father s, bett er mother s, bett er husbands bett er 1ves and fietter children. It has mad e better m; sters, better servant s, bett ei· teachers and better 2upils. It has mad e bett er everything. The Bible has ever been th e for erunn er of enlightenment , civilization and progres s. Wh erever it has been read , loved and obeyed, the land has been mad e to prosper and to blossom as th e rnse. It has built our s~ , established our orphanag es, and founded our instituti ns for the blind and the mfii-m. Contrast for a m01~ the conditions in Spain and in the United States. In Spain for hundreds of years the Bible has been, in a larg e measur e, a closed book, becau se it is a priest-ridden land. In the Unit ed States there is an open Bible in practically every home. And what do we find? In Spain, out of a population of mor e than ninete en million s, ther e ar e more than twelve million s who can neither read nor writ e. Th ere ar e said to be thousands of towns in Spain which hav e no schools of any kind , and hundreds of villages in the int erior where there is not a soul who can read. Con­ tra st thi s with conditi ons in the U nit ed States, wh ere alm ost every child is within th e sound of a school bell, and you can begin to realize wha t an open Bible has been to this '' land of th e fr ee and home of th e brav e." Th e Bible has done mu ch to l.ift.1U2th e human rf1ce, in lifting u woman, who is the moth er of th e race. The Bible foun d er in slave ry, and has in an important sense liberated her and exalt ed her to her prop er sph ere in Ii fe. It has 1:ieen said, "Wom an was not taken fr om man 's foot that he shoulv tr ead upon her ; nor fr om his head that she should rule over h!m; but from .his side t~at sl:e might walk side by sid_ewith hun through life, to enJoy his pleasur e and share his sor row s." · But she enj oys this pri vilege only in a land where the Bible is read and obeyed. In other land s, as a rule, woman does not appea r with her hu sband and sons _on the str eets. And in the home she serves them and then eats as the servants do jn this country. It is a matter of history that the American Ind ians mad e th eir wives do all the hard 108 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

work - all the drudgery - and then occupy the coldest place in the wigw am, as eve ry school boy and gi rl knows. In the Ea dies it was for a long time the custom to b rn the widow alive on the fun eral pyre of her dead hu sband, until the English law fo rbade it. The princes i11 the F i· i Iiliuids were accustomed to bui ld their palac ~ eac corner over a woman buried alive, so littl e were the right s of woman considered. It is only in a land wher e the Bible has mold ed the sentim ent that woman enjoys, to any exte nt , her God­ given right s. And if she does not enj oy all her rights and privil eges in our own land, it is all because we are still far from being a Bible peop le even yet. W hen we all lea rn to practi ce unr eserved ly the principles of divine truth, as set forth in th e "Go lden Rule," then all men and women will enj oy th eir hi 11 and just righ ts, and then will dawn that happ y tim e of which the prophets of old dreamed, when ' tbey shall bei!:.J:their swo rd s int o plowsha res and their spear s into prunin g hooks" - a tim e when the nat ions shall ­ earn war no more; when every man may sit clown und er his vine and fig tree, and none shall mak e them afra id; fo r the [ glory of the Lord shall fill the whole ea rth . I mu st not fa il to suggest one more reason why we should study th e Bible as we do no other book in the world. It is ~I the one book by which we are to be jud ged )¥hen we st~ before the ju dgment seat of Chri st in that last great day! Paul says Goel has "appo inted a clay in the which he will judg e the wor ld in right eousness" (Acts 17 :31) by his Son Jesus Chri st. Aga in he says, ·'For we sha11all sta nd befor e th e jud gment seat of Chir st." (Rom . 14:10) . An d once mor e he says, "Fo r we mu st all app ea r efo re the judgment ~eat _of Chri st; th at_eve ry one may receive the things don e 111 his body , accorclmg to that he hath clone, whether it be good or bad. " (II. Cor. 5 :10) . The re is no possible way lto escape the jud gment. 'Ne mu st meet it either prepared or unpr epa red. And when we stand in the presence of the Judg e of all the earth , we shall not be admitted int o the "Realm s of the blest " by our va rious church registers. We mu st be judged by the Bible. John says, "I saw the dead , sma ll and great, stand befo re Goel; and the book s were Why Study th e J3,ible? 109 opened -- and the dead wer e j uclgecl out of tho se thin gs which were written in th e book s, accordin g to the ir wo rks." (Rev . 20:12 ). Sur ely, in view of the great judgment clay, to;;; cl which we are all ha stenin g, we should stud y to show our selves approved unt o Goel, workme n who need not to be asham ed, handlin g aright th e word of tru th. The Bible is the one living and ete rn al book. J esus says, "Heave n -and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." (Matt. 24 ;35... And the apo stle Peter said, "A ll flesh is as grass, and all the glory ther eof as th e flowe r of gra ss. The grass withereth , and flowe r fa lleth: but the word of the Lord endur eth for ever." (I. Peter. 1 :24-25) . This was spoken nearly tw o thousand years ago, and still the word of God endur es-i t still abides, and is destined to live throu ghout eternity . Volta ire, the great F rench infidel, who died in the year 177 preclicted that in n · t ld red.. yea rs Christianity wou a be swept fr om th e globe and the Bi151e los~. But what really happened? A,bout twenty-five years afte r his death th e Bri tish an d Foreign Bibl e Society was £om1Qs!d, and thi s one Bible concern alon e ha s given to the world some two hundr ed milli on copies of the Bible in some to ur hundr ed different languages. In the yea r 1905, this Bible society issued about six million copies o t 1e Bible. This means eleven copies every minu te, seven hun­ clred copies every hour , more th an sixteen thousand copies every day for th e entir e year s. Even oltair e's printing" press, on which his inti.iclel literatur e was printea , was made to print Bibles afte r his death , and the very hou se in which he live was used as a sto rage room for Bibles, so mightily grew the word of God. Thomas Jefferson, in p is book on Western Virginia , publi shed abo ut th e time Vo lta ire died, predicted th at in fifty years fr om then there would not be a Bil:ile 111 America , unl ess it was found in some Curi osity _Shop . But what happ ened in thi s case? We ll, ju st about fifty yea rs from that tim e th e American Bible an rac( S~ ty r-a sei_ a resolution to place a copy of the Bible in every hom e in th e Unit ed Stat es, and that good work has continued wit h marvelous success, until today it is pra c- 110 Abilene Christian College L ectures. tically impo ssible to find a home where th ere is not at least one copy of the Bible. Truly the Bible lives! According to reliable estimat es, there are now in circu­ lation some seven hund ·e uilli on copies of the Bible, in more than fi..vel ~ red different language s. And th e de­ mand for it is greater today than ever befor e. W ell may we ask , how ha s the Bibl e won thi s rare distinction among books? Strange as it may seem, it has won its way in the world in the face of th e bitterest opposition. And its ex ist­ ence and popularity today is littl e less than a stupendou s miracl e which attests its divine origin. The original manu­ scripts from which th e Bible was compiled were committed to the Jew s for safe- keeping. The se writings abound ed in the severest denunci at ions of the J ews, and proclaimed, over and over, again and again th eir utt er destruction on account of their many sins. So, th e most natural thing at all would hav e been for th e Jews to rid thems elves of the whole of it ; but th ey pre served th em with even superst itious care. Infid els hav e from time to tim e spent their st rength in trying to destro y the Bible, while Rome has tri ed to burn it and its reader s out of existence. Sti ll, th e Old Book rise s up today like a phoenix from the fire , as littl e harmed by their feeble attac ks as were Shadrack, Meshack and Abed­ nego by Nebuchadn ezza r's fiery furn ace in the long ago . It reminds one some,vhat of th e I~~n's J etice which was built about his premises. three fee 11g1 and four feet wide . When asked why he had been so fooli sh as to build a fence wider than it was high, he repli ed, "So when th e storm lows it over it will be higher th an it was befor e." It is even so with the Bible. Af ter all th e storm s of persec ution that have been hurl ed aga inst it by ath eists, infidel s, skept ics and higher critics, it occupies a higher place in the world today than ever before. The l:JlOStpopul ar books writte n by men el eac 1 sale. o mQre than fiftv thou­ sand copies a yea r, and the y do not often surv ive the cen­ ~ in which they were prod uced. F~ book s will bear· a second readin g. But here is the oldest aut henti c- lfook in t~ orld ; one that ha s been read more than any oth er book in all the worl d, ~nd yet it i~ the most popu lar seller in thf' T,,Vhy St udy the Bi ble? 111 whole cat-alog of books to day- seJling at the enor mous rate of fifty th ousand copies a day- a million and a half <:opies a month. or twenty million copies a year! Ho w sublim ely tru e are the poet' s words,

"S teadfast, serene, immovable, the same Year after year bu rn s on that quenchless flame; Shin e on, that inexti ngu ishable light. "

Let us remember th at th e Bible is a divine product , wro ught into the textur e of hum an hi story and literature by th e gra dual un folding of the ages. It is th e one book that deals with man as an immort al soul- makin g known the beginnin g of the race, and going even beyond the begin­ ning unt o Goel, who is " fr om ever lastin g to everlasting ," and who in the beginn ing created the heavens and th e earth. It is the one book that reveals th e origin, th e mi ssion and the destin y of the hum an rac e. Wit hout it we ar e lost in the maze of human speculatio n in our effor ts to answer the question, " \\ !hence came man and whith er does he go ?" T ru e, men may theor ize about it, look wise, and tell us we are only highly developed apes, or an improved stock of monkeys; but this is not very compliment ary to the human race, and should be repudiated by all who have any respect for themselves or their forefat hers. It is decidedly mor e reasonable and rat ional to accept the simple, straightforward sto ry of man's origin; na mely, that he was created in the exp ress imag e of his Maker. T he Bible not only reveal s man's origin, but his final and ultimate destin y, and it is the only book that does. Oth er books will tell of a man's birth , his edu cation, his fa ilur es and achievement s, his death and buri al ; but th ere they all close. T he Bible is th e only book that lights up perpetua lly the pat hway of th e living and then throw s its br ight rays of hope beyond the river of death , bidd ing us to walk throu gh the valley and th e shadow of deat h and fear no evil. T he Bible is pre-eminently the "Book of books "-th e one book fo rever outshinin g all other books in th e literar y firmament as th e sun out splend ors all the planets that move 112 Ab ilene Christian College L ectures. in their orbits forever around him. And in th e langu age of another: "Thi s old book cont ains the mind of God, th e state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinn ers and the happin ess of believers. It s histori es ar e tru e, its doc­ trin es are holy, its pr ecepts are binding, and its decisions are immutabl e. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saf e, and practice it to be holy. It contain s light to direct you , food to support you, an d comfort to cheer you. It is the tra v­ eler' s map, th e pilgrim 's staff, the sailor 's compa ss, th e soldier's sword and th e Chri stian 's chart er. H ere paradi se is restored, heave n is opened and the gate s of hell ar e dis­ closed. Chri st is its gr and subject, our good its design , and th e glory of Goel its end . It should fill the memory , rul e the heart and guid e the feet. Read it slowly , fr equently , pr ayerfull y. It is a min e of wealth, a paradise of glor y and a river of pleas ur e. It is given you in life , will be open at the judgm ent , and be remembered forever . It involves th e highest responsibility , rew ards the greatest labor and con­ demns all who trifl e with its holy contents." How Study the Bible ? 115

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE.

Ev G. DAI,LAS SMI'fI-I. The importance of Bible study was discussed and em­ phasized • in Lecture IV . It was sugested that we should study it as a means of knowin God the Father, Jesus Chri st his son, an t 1e great plan of salvation. Further, that we shouldstudy it ecatt'Se oi the fruit it has borne and is bear­ ing, and because we are to be judged by it in the last great day . 'vVe may add, furthermore, that the Bible should be studied because it is the medium of all spiritual light. David says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psa. 119:105). And again he says, "The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simpJ.e." (Psa. 119 :130). As far as we know, or have rea son to believe, there is never . one ray of divine light blesses this old world except that which comes through God's word. And he who is ignorant of the Bible is in the darkness even until now, regardless of his attainments other­ wise. Again, we should study thei Bible because it is the basi s of all divine faith. Paul declares that "faith cometh by hear­ ing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17). And Peter says, "Ye know how that a good while ago the Lord made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." (Acts 1S :7). It is just as impossible to have faith or to believe without a knowledge of God's word as it is to raise a crop without planting the seed. It takes the seed to produce the crop, and it required a knowledge of God's word to produce faith. The Bible is not only the medium of all spiritual light and the basis of all divine faith, but it is also the ground of all genuine hope. Paul says we are saved by hope (Rom. 8 :24), and that it is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." (Heb. 6:19). But this sure and steadfast hope comes only through the study of God's word. So, of course, the study of the Bible is of first and supreme importance . Then the question, too, of how to study the Bible is paramount. 'vVe cannot place too much stress on this ques- 116 Abil ene Christian College Le ctur es. tion since our eternal destiny depends on our knowing the scriptures . I confid ently believe that much of th e little time that is given to Bible study is wa sted fo r th e lack of a systematic plan of study . An old broth er who had been an elder in th e church fo r man y yea rs, and a teacher of th e advanced class on Sunda y mornin gs for twenty -five years, told me a few years ag,o, that a fter studying the Bible all his life he wa s still fearfull y ign ora nt of it- that he did not kno w anything about it, to use his own word s. Now what was the trouble with thi s old brother ? The Bible can, in a large measur e, be lea rn ed ; and thi s old broth er was cap able of learning; but st ill, with a Ii fetime stud y, he kn ew almost nothing about it. Evid ent! y thi s old brother 's trouble lay in his method of study , or rat her in his lack of a method . So I repeat, th e question of how to study th e Bible is of paramount importan ce. Perhaps the most common :wa:¥ o = ading: th~ e among the masses 'is to allo,v it to fall open at random i;J.na..,, rea , w.1tliout anythlng_definite in view. Thi sc ommon · way of reading the Bible is without plan, meilio :y.slem, ncl is but littl e bett er th an no Bible reading . O ne may ope n the Bible today at th e stor y of Ioseph, the beloved SOQ_ of Jacob, and tomo rrow , or th e next time it fall s open, at the story of J ose~ of A rin2Q.!:hea, a rich disciple; and the reader , knowin g but littl e about the Bible and its characte rs, may get the two J osep hs mixe d. Or he may open th e Bible today and read abo ut Sa ul seeking the life of David, and the next tim e he opens his Bib le he may chance to read where ~was "ye t br eath ing out thr eatenin gs and slaugh ­ ter again st the disciples." (Ac ts 9: 1). In thi s way he may get the two Sauls mixe d. Aga in, he might ope n today and read about th e "k ingdom" in the Old Testame nt , and the next time it may cha nce to open in the New Tes tame nt and he may read, "R epent ye; for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3 :2), and so he may get the two kingdom s mixed. y' es, the se are extreme cases, and may but crud ely illustrate the point , but they do suggest the importanc e of a more systematic plan of Bible study. If in our .literar y schools the pupil s should be allowed to dea l with their tex t­ books in this hap -haz ard , unsystemactfr manner 1t is doubt- How Stiidy the Bible ? 117 ful if th ey would ever be able to turn out any graduates. And so it is doubtful if anyone will ever be able to kn ow th e Bibe, even in a very limit ed sense, by read ing and studying in this hap-hazard, unsystematic way. '[(' Others think the only way to read the Bible profitably is to read book by book-from "lid to lid;" in order. And while ttus 1s adnJ"itt edfy "fnuch better than allowin . th e Bible to o en, t nd om, still this is not e~tir ely satisfacto r,Y, and will not produc e the best resul~ he arrangement of the books of the Bible. as th ~}Wl,,]2.llei · ·1 our. Bible today do.es not · the stor of the Bible in connected order. For instance, in reading from Genesis to Revelation - from "lid to lid," o~s the account of the reJJ,1rn of the Is raelit es ~ from Babylon, as told by ~ -4 nct Nehemiah befo re he rea s 'e'ver inter esting story of their .sojourn in Babyl011, as told by Eze iel and Daniel. This is not the fault of in spi­ ration, of course;but a blunder of unin spir ed men who com­ piled the Bi·ble. Why they thus arranged the books I do not know ; but I do know that it is always best to stud .);.., events in the order of th eir occurrence - at least until the story 1s welf"lixe i::I 111 t 1e mind. Afte r this it does not matter so much. ./ Many others are contented to follow, year after :vea.r.,, J_.Lv the Int ernatio mda 'mo.o Lesso11s,, limiting their Bible study almost altogether to this. The International Lesson plan, to my mind , far from being perfect; in fact, it is distressingly d:_,efectiv ?..,... I seriou sly doubt if one would ever be able to~ge a clear and general grasp of the B_ilile as a whole 6y following th e Internati onal Sunday School L~s- sons .. It is l~rgely a skip, hoP._and jump p,lan .. F requen tly there 1s but l!J.tle or no conn ect 1011between the lessons which follow in t]!Q_iasucces sion. Ancl"l:fiis mak es it practically impossible to ever get an intelligent hold 011 the wor d of God . Understand me. I am not criticising thos e who pre- pare the comments on the lessons. It is th e unsy stemat ic plan we are, by common consent, forced to follm ,v, that I am cnttc1s111g. I do not eJieve this plan will produ ce satis- fa.£!.21:_xresults , it matter s not who prepares th e lesson heips. But I do not want to be misund ersto od ; a Bib le class in 118 Abilene Christian College Lectures.

· which these lesson helps are used is a thousand times better than -no Bibl e class. To my mind the ana lyt ical met ho · J.i study is th e meth od of all. A ne nee , 111 t e very ~r st place, to see th e 1/ L ible as a whole. H e need s to see it~ n all its parts, its d ivisions and its subd ivisions-to g§l. a bird's-eye viewo f it, ify ou please . Unt il one is able to thus see th e Bible in its genera l outlin es, he is unpr epa red to properly app reciate the stud y of the individual text. Some yea rs ago over in Memphis , Ten nessee, I was permitted to stan d and gaze with _p leasure and admirati on on a ve ry famo us painting. It was a pictur e of th e "V illag e Blacksmtih," and was pos­ sibly some twe nty feet squar e. 'I'he painting had recently sold for $42,000.00, and was th en being displayed by one of the great depa rtm ent sto res as a means of adve rtising the ir business . I saw this pictur e as a whol e- saw it in all its pa-r:ts,it s divisions and subdivisions, so to spea k. I saw th e shop , the anv il, the hamm er, and the stalwa rt fo rm of the smith him self. I saw wago n wheels, plows, hoes and rak es. I saw th e glow of the fire as it was fanned by th e bellows, lighting up the whol e shop. And I sa w the clea r eye and the brawn y ar m of the smith as he stood at his anv il, a repr esentative of hon est to il. I got a bird' s-eye view of the whole picture ; and althou gh I am neither an artist nor th e son of an artist, and was not accustomed to studying fine pa intin gs, st ill I was able to enjo y that pictur e immen sely. But had I und ertak en to study that paintin a s uare inch at a ti me. "

" No book is like th e Bible for childhood , youth and age : Our dut y plain and simple we find on eve ry page ."

It is true th at there is no book like th e Bible fo r child ­ hood, youth and age ; but it is not tru e th at we find our dut y plain and simpl e on every page. }1any pages are purely histo rical, <;iealing with gen ealogies an d long lists of names. T fierea re many, many pages on wh ich we can not find our duty , of cour se. Th ere ar e man y comma nds in th e Bible whif h w_u re not requjre d to obey, to be sur e. Fo r in- / , stance , there is a command requir ing all the ma les am ong Goclj_ee_oJ2l~ to assembl e at Jerusalem three tim es a yec!J;- at fne feast of the Passove r at the feast of Pen.t..arost and at the fea st of Tal:ierna clts . But while th is is a positive command fr om th e Lord , it ha s no refer ence to us whatev er. This comm and was given to the J ews when they dwelt in the land of Pa lestin e, and is now app licable to no one. There is anoth er command wh ich says, "Reme mber the Sabbath 2,.., day to keep it holy." This is a nother pos itive Command , - !mt ·it w2.s nev er of genera l app licat ion. It neve r wa s a command to th e Gentiles, of course. There are even com­ mands ;n the Bible which it would be a sin for us to observ~. 5 lf ,Ye slwulcl chanc e to see a man gath erin g up sticks to! make a fire on Saturd ay, and should frill l1im for this it would be cons idered a great cr ime aga inst th e l::iw of the 120 Abil ene Christian College Lectures.

land. and a great sin aga inst high heav en. and so ·it wuu ld be. St ill th ere is a commat d ·u the Bible which requires the killing o a man or this very th ing; but it was never of genera l app lication -never did a.pply to us. Vve are accus- y- tomed to send missionari es to iclolater s- to tho se who are please d to wars1p th e sun , moon and stars . St ill th ere is a command in th e Bible requiring such peop le to be stoned to death. But this command was given only to the Jews, and for the purpose of preventing the spread of idolatry at a very critical period of their existence as a nation. This command was never of general app lication , and it would. of cou rse, be sin to obey it tod ay. T here are some things, even in th e New T estament , whic h do not app ly to us. I rea a book a few years ago on the second coming of Christ, in which the author ur ged the reader to ent er upon the study of the subject in full assu rance of faith; "for ." said he, "God has promis ·ed to send you the S irit to gu ide you into all th e t uth ." O f course, this promise applied only o""a­ select number of men, and never was of gene ral app licat ion. It is a clear misapplication of scriptur e. Again, when J esus br eathed on his discip les and said, "R eceive ye the Holy ( 1iSpirit; whose soeve r sins ye remit , they are remitted unt o hem; and whose soeve r sins ye reta in, they are retained" ( Iolff 20 :22-23), he did not speak thi s for all people, and for a I tn:1e; 11..Qteve n for all preachers .. _No r is it ~.RPlicable t Q th e n ests of Rom e today ; the Catholic content10n to the contrary\ notwithstanding. And th ese are only a few of the instances in th e Bible where the lang uage does not app ly to us. But th ese ar e sufficient to emp hasize the importan ce of the rule which says, "A lways observe to whom the lan- uag e is add ressed." - · - Another important rule in the study of the Bible is this: )j. St~d y each passage in it:5 roper settin . dit is qui~e eas y to ta e a assage out o I s connec 1011 an app 1 y 1t as you ch?o~e, a1:1db e able to E!,"Ove almost ~n thi_ng th,ereby. And this 1s quit e a common way of provmg thmgs by the Bible. For insta nce. if I were makin g a speech on pro hibi tion , and wished to convince my audience that it is wro ng to touch, taste or hand le the vile stuff , I might quote Paul's language / , to th e church at Colosse, "T~ ch not , taste not; handle not " How St-itdy the Bible ? 121

(Co l. 2 :21 , and declare the Bible says. so; and ~o it does. in the plainest language. But if we will study the passage in its proper setting -in its connection, we will discover that Paul was not speaking of strong drin~ when he said, "Touch not; taste no ; handl e not," and so it proves absolutely noth­ ing as far as strong drink is concerned. The Bible does condemn strong drink, of course; but in this passage au l is discussing th e doctrines and commandments of men, and says, "To uch not ; taste not ; handle not" - have nothing to do with the doctrines and commandments of men; for they all are to peri sh witfithe using. Again, if rwere making an ,­ argument on the d~ of a sinner to ray, I might quote the language of Peter to Simon, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray Goel, if perhaps t~e thought of thine heart may be forgiven th ee." Acts, 8 :22). Here it is, and from th e mouth of an inspired apostle. But study Peter's language in its proper setting, and it appears at once that Simon is not a sinner in the broad sense of that word. Simon had believe on Jesus and hacl been baptized, and was th erefor e saved; for Jesus says, "He that believ e h and is baptized shall .be saved ." So, Simon was a child of God who had sinned, and not the sinner out of Christ. The pas­ sage ther efo re proves ii'othmg as to the alien sinner's prayer. A few years ago I heard an old preacher trying to defend · the direct call to preach. He sa id a man' s ability to preach did not depend so much on his training in schoo l, all of :... which he said was well enough, but that it depended on the , '( · ~ l divine call. He then quoted, "A nd no man taketh this /~.; honor unto him self, but he that is called of God, as wa (S · _,'?, Aaron." (Heb. 5 :4). And the audienc e seemed to drink i down as if it were the truth . But if we study this passage in its proper sett ing-in its connection, we will see that it does not even touch the subject of a direct call to preach . When Paul said, "No man taketh this honor unto himself , save he that is called of Goel, as was Aaron," he was discuss- ing the High-priesthood, and not the call to the niinistrv. So I repeat, it does not even touch the subject , and th is is a· very fruitful way of proving fal se doctrines. Almo st anything can be proven in this way . Why, I can pro ve, in this wa:v. that it is right for a man to go out and hang him~elL .;i,ncl 122 Abi lene Christian College L ectur es.

/ do it quickl y. Ju st take three passages, somew hat ?iscon ­ r nected , and we read, "Jud as we nt out and hanged himself ; go, thou , and do likewise; and vvhat thou dost, do quickly. " How easy it is ! But if we wi ll stud y these texts in th eir proper setting , it will put an ent irely diff ereut face on the whole matt er, of cour se. Aga in. in our stud y we mu st l_!'.t the B ible s12,eakfull y and fn ;elY, ou eve ry subject; fo r we mu st remember t 11at wh ile"" every pas sage tells the truth, it takes every passage of scr i12tur e_Q any: pa rticular subj ect to revea l all the truth onth at sub ject. So, to select one pa ssage on a subj ect and refu se to listen to other s on the same subj ect is to deal L'infa irly with th e woT-d of God . If a juro r."· who ha s been sworn to dec ide a certa in case accord ing to the evi dence produ ced, should , after hear ing one witness . refus e to hear others, say ing he had mad e up his m ind alre;idy while tfiei-c were a num ber of other witn esse s to be exam ined, l1e would b~ summari ly dism issed by the court as incompete nt. And yet thi s is the very ,vay many deal with the sac red- th e div·ine witness es. Take, for ex ampl e, Matthew, Ma rk and /, Luk e as witn esses to the K!:_eat Co111111issia r:. Matt hew says , "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations , bapt izing them in the nam e of the Fathe r, and th e So n and the Ho ly Spiri t; tea chin g th em to obse rve all thi ngs whatsoever I have com ­ mand ed you." (Ma tt. 28 :18-20). N ow, th is stateme nt of Matth ew's tells the truth , of cour se; but it doe s not te ll all th e truth respect ing the Great Comm ission . l~e says go teach all nations, but he doe s not say what the natio ns a re to be taugh t. He says the tau ght are to be bap tized, but he does not say what bapt ism is fo r and says nothin g abo ut th e necessity of fa ith or repent ence. So, it is clear 1.hat this passage does not tel l all the truth on thi s subj ect. Ma rk's testimony giv es addi tional t ru th on the subj ect. He says, "Go ye int o all the wo rld . and pr each th e gos pel to every creatur e. H e that believeth and is bapti zed sha ll be saved." ( Mark ,lQ.;.L5.:1.6 l. So Mark tells what is to be taught, and pr~ed, and he makes it clea r that faith , or behef, is nec­ essary , and he shows fur thermor e that bapti sm is a condi­ tion of salvat ion . And Luk e's testim ony rev eals the fac t that repent ance is to be taught as well as fait h and bapt ism . How tu dy th e Bibl e? 123 The same is true with respect to th e recorded cases of con - 2 version. No one of these acco un ts gives all the truth on the sub feet. 'vVe mu st take what all the vvitnesses say to get ali the revea led truth on conver sion. For examp le, in cts16: 30-31 , in answer to the jail er's question, "S irs, wha mtrsf I o to be save d," Paul an swe rs, "!2elieve on the Lord Je sus Chri st, and thou halt be saved , and thy ho us " -€ Now Paul tells the i:rnth here, of course; but he does not ,.;.,.,~ tell all the truth in th ese word s, to be s1Cre. Yet many peop l ~ -c ~ / , abso lutely refu se to hear anything furth er, and make up ,,..~ ~) their mind ~ fr om this testimony alon e. It says not one word 9 abo ut rep entance or baptism, both of which we have learne d wer e incorporat ed in th ~ Grea t Commi ssion. But turn to the account of Peter's wor on the gr eat Pentecost, and we hear Peter say to believers, "Repent , and be baptized eve ry one of you in the name of Jesus Christ fo r the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Ho ly Sp irit." (Acts 2 :38) ._J -Iere P eter mak•es it n.hin that one must not 01.;Ty:believe hut rep eni :1.11dbe bap t ized to be save d. So, in 01=-a(r to ~ ll the truth on conve rsion, we need to study every case of conve rsion. Aga in, in (Ro m. S :1), Pa ul says, "Therefore 1Jeing ju stific.d by £aith ..we - have peace with God thro ugh our Lord J esus Christ." Evi dently thi s is the truth ; but it is not all the truth on ju st ification , for Jame s says, "'Ye sre th en how that by v~sa man is justifi ed, and not by faith only." (Ja s. 2 :24) . Pa ul says noth ing abo ut works or obedience, a1'rth1.1anyd esirin g to prove that salva- tion is by fa ith only, have accepted Paul's sta tem ent as in- cluding everyth ing essential to ju stification, and are there- fo re led to rejec t Jam es' state ment- whe n both these witnesses are inspired. Pa ul and Jam es do not contradict each other; they rath er supp lemen t eac h other. But men have mad e Pa ul contr;:idict Jam es by addin g the little wo rd "only" to his stat ement. ~ Fina lly, we must always a12.P~ ch the Bibl~ b an hone st and oi:ien hs;_art. \ \ 'hat one sees in the Bible depends, lai ·gely, on wha t he is looking for. and in th is way only can we ai;count fo · the ~man y co11H1cti11g and cont radictor doc­ tr·n es in th e world today. Unless we honestly seek for t he truth , we sha ll hardly find it; and if we are pr ejudiced 124 Ab ilene Ciirist1an t oliege lectures.

agains t it we· are certain not to find it. He who comes ~o the Bible honestl y . seekin~ for the . truth~only this and nothing more, 1s cert am to find 1t; wlHle he who comes seeking supp ort for his peculiar doctrine is almost as cert ain O find iliat ;--too-at least he will find · some­ thing that will serve his purpose to pis own sat isfac tion . l \ e s o u cl come to the Bib_le to find O\tr doc~rine-not to trove it. Any othe r cour se 1s frau ght with sen ous clangers. We mu st be perfect ly willing to accept what Goel says, whether it is to our likin g or not. T he importance . of this rul e is set fort h in the case of Balaam. Many yea rs ago when the Isra elites, en route from 'gypt fo Canaa n, pitched their tent s in the land of Moab, th e king of that land (Bal ak ) fea rin g they would lid< up eve ryth ing as th e ox licketh up the gra ss fr om the field, sent messen ger s to Balaam, a prophet of J ehovah , askin g him to come an d cur se the Isra elites th at he might be ab le to ove rcome them. Balaam received the mes sengers and ent ert ained th em over­ night, th e while waitin g to see what Goel would adv ise in the matt er. During the night th e Lord appea red unto him and said. among other things: " Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not cur se the peop le; for they arc blesse d." (N_um . 22 :12) . 'lh1 s should have set tled tfie matt er with Balaam for all tim e, and would have set tled it, had he been w'illing to abide the Lord 's decision in tlte 'matter. Th ese messeng ers returned to Ba lak and repo rted that Ba laam had refused to come with them. But Balak, know ing the weak­ ness of th e human race, sent unto Ba laam messengers "mor e and mor e honorable," say ing, "Let nothing , I pray th ee, hind er th ee from coming unto me; fo r I will pro mot e the e unto ve ry great honor, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do; come therefore, I pray the e, cur se me this peo­ ple." Now when these "mo re honorab le" messenge rs reached Balaam with that very flattering proposition of wea lth and honor , he , knowing what the Lo rd had said, that he should not go; that he sho uld not curse the peop le, "fo r they are blessed ," Balaam , knowi ng all this, said to these "honorab le" gent lemen. "Ta rr y ye her e also thi s night that I may see what the Lord will say unto me mor e." Rem ember, th e Lord had already spoken plain ly to Ba laa m, f orbidding him Ho w Stitdy the Bible! 125

to go; but he is unwilling to abide thi s decision , and wants the Lord to say "mo re." H e wants th e Lord to tell him to go. Just like an unrul y child, afte r the parent ha s forb idden him to o some place, he comes and renew s th e request­ not willing to be submi ssive to the parent' s will. So, Balaam, J afte r the Lord has forbidd en him to go, want s the Lord to say mor e- he vvants the Lord to tell him he may go. Well , the Lord does not compel or coerce people to obey him. He allows them to pursue their own course , after having ad­ vise d them. So the Lord came to Balaam and said. "If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them," but he assur ed Balaam that only the words which he should put into his mouth that should be speak. So Balaam arose and went with th e messengers; but the Record says, "T he Lord' s anger was kind led against him because he went ." Balaam · di..i__not*o to G.9d with an honest and open heart . seeking t~ trut only . . He did not go to God to learn what his pleas ur e in the matte r wa s. Balaam had his own way mark ed out , and went to God to have him approve it. Like nw t men w e they ask you for advi ce, th ey want you to adviset hem to follow th eir own will in th e matter . So Balaam wanted God to tell him to go. And many come to the Bible, as Balaam went to God, with their own course well defined , want ing to find somethin g that will encourag e them in their own way. H ence they hu nt about from place to place, until th ey find something that ju stifies their course. to their own satisfacti on, at least ; and then go away, like Balaam , with th e ass uran ce that God said so ! But remem­ ber "Th e Lord 's anger was kindl ed aga inst him because he went. " We mu st not incur the ang er of Jehovah by trying to bend the divin e will to suit our own way. This is a fearful thing! Let us be sur e in reading and studying the Bible that we seek at all times to know the Father's wi11- 011ly this and nothing · m:ore.

"'T is one thing , fri end . to read th e Bible throu gh · Another thing to read , to learn , to do. 'Tis one thing , too , to read it wit h delight , And quite ano t 1er th ing to read it right, 126 Abi le11e Christia n College L ectur es.

" Som e read it wit h des ign to learn to read , But to the subj ect pay but litt le heed ; Some read it as their duty once a week , But no instru ction fr om th e Bible seek.

" Some read to br ing themselves int o repute By showin g others how they can disput e; ·whil e others read because their neighbor s do, To see how long 'tw ill take to read it through .

"S ome read the blessed Boo k, they know not.why­ It sometim es happe ns in the way to lie ; vVhile oth ers read it with un common care; But all to find some contrad iction the re.

" One read s with fa ther's 's pecs' upon his head, J\nd sees th e thin gs ju st as hi s fat her did ; Another reads th ro ugh Campb ell, Stone and Scott , And think s it meant ju st what they thought.

"S ome rea d to prove a pread opt ecl creed, Thu s und erstand ing little wha t they read ; An d ever y passage in the Book they bend T o mak e it suit that a ll-importa nt end . Some people rea d, as I have oft en thought , To tea ch th e Book instea d of being taught. "

How R~ADEST T HOU?

F. L. YOUK G Some Present -day Problems and Perils. 129

SOME PRE SE NT -DAY PERILS AND PROBLEMS . BV F. L. You Nc. I am no alarmi st. Neit her am I a pessimist. I firmly believe in the tr iumph of right over wro ng; that th e Lo rd can mak e even the wrat h of his en emies to praise H irn. It is, however, the pa rt of wisdom to look on bot h sides . the dark as well as the bright. If one wou ld avo id and overcome difficultie s, they mu st be seen and recogn ized. T here are some perils an d prob lems common to all the ages, and, then, there ar e others pec uliar to each age . The father s of the Re storatio n had to meet ignoranc e, pr ejudice, and sectar ian bigotry; but the masses ·were honest and intense ly religiou s. Great battles were fought and wanderfu l victo ries ga ined by those heroe s, for there we re giants in tho se clays. T hey bequeath ed to us, their childr en, a resto red gospe l. a resto red chur ch, and a restored worship . In fact they restored to the world that gospe l whic h was preached by the Ho ly Spirit sent clown from heaven, that worship so fu ll of God's simplicit y, an d th at church so adequate fo r car ry­ ing on all the work of Goel. Shall we be as true to the next generation as they we re to this? Our perils and problem s differ from theirs , both in kind and in degree. Sha ll we meet them bra vely and solve them wisely , or shall we be swept from our bearings by that great avalanche of worldline ss that thr eatens to eng ulf eve rything? Th e spirit of vvorlclliness is runnin g riot; it know s no bounds. With it are no sacred seasons or· sacred precincts. T he amusement craze has defied the God of ent erta in­ ment , who se att ributes are mainly fun an d fro'J.ic. If this deity wer e satisfied wit h his own te rritor y, the devil's doma in, it would not be so ser ious. But , like his old pro to­ type, he intrud es into the meeting places of sons of God, ,vhere is being offered worship in Spirit and in tru th . vVhen we turn to the pages of medieval histo ry and see how the Roman s desecrate d the church of God, we lift 130 Abi lene Christian allege Lectures.

our hand s in holy horror. To ga in favor wit h the heathen they sanctified th eir ga mes, fest ival s and mu sic, say ing that, "the end ju stifies the means." Thi s spirit of wantonne ss that would open th e door of God's house to the se heathen amu sement s would sac rifice 'the fellowship of purity, virtu e and righteousness . Worldine ss today is th e dead ly apo stasy that is poison­ ing the atmosp here of God's Sanctuar y. The devotees at thi s shrin e are neither vile nor w icked. as me11 cou nt vileness; but they a re act uated . by a Spirit that wou'ld secularize and comm ercialize every sacred prin ­ ciple. A Chri stless moralit y is the hidd en rock that is wr ecking the old Ship of Zion in man y places. Indifference is anoth er peril with which we mu st reckon. It is that insidious negative conditi on of church Ii fe th at is sapping the very foundation of God's Spiritual Te mple. No care for the lost; deaf to the wa il of the widow and the cry of the orphan . Heed less to the call of missions; and blind to th e great work of th e Chri stian education. No wonder the apostle asked th e quest ion, "Ho w shal'l we escape if we neglect ?" Thi s spirit of indiff erence ha s so deaden ed th e zeal of th e Saint s in many places that a deadly pall seems to be hangin g over the chur ch. L ike the Ephesian s they have gone to sleep in th e midst of peril s and surrounded by great opport uniti es. The voice of the Apostle , "A wake, thou that steepest, and a rise fr om th e dead , and th e Christ shall shin e on th ee" should be herald ed from the riv ers to the ends of th e earth. Anoth er peril that thr eatens th e chur ch in rhi s com­ mercial age is business . It is well to have a business, and to be diligent in business and fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. But when one is so absorbed in bu siness as to neglect to serve the Lord, he needs to hear th e warning voice of the Apost le when he cried saying, "Save your selves from this crooked gen erat ion. " Th e Lo rd needs busy men and busine ss men, but, like the Maste r, one should attend th e Father 's busine ss first. Surrounded as we are with the wor,ld, th e flesh, and the devil, it is difficult for chri stian s to stem th e curr ent and 0111e Presen t-clay Prob lem,s and P erils. 131

heed the command s ,o "w ithdraw your selves fro m everyo ne that walks disord erly," "mark them," "hav e no company with them," "t hat th ey may be asham ed." Th e lack of wholesome discipline is a peril that is menacing the efficiency of the chur ch more than :.m y other one thing. If th e life of a citizen of God's K ingd om differs not from th e Alien in self-d enial, cro ss-bear ing, and sp iritual devoti on, why be a cit izen ? Can th e profess ion o f theory save? Ther e is no doubt in my mind abo ut the restora tion of the faith and theory of primiti ve Chri stianity, bnt there is room to doubt the restoration o [ the pract ice. I-fa ving discover ed our need, let us say with th e Apost le, "Thi s one thing I will do." We hav e been t rying for yea rs to set the denomination s right ; in fact, we have wo rk ed at that so mu ch over-tim e th at we have almost gotte n out of plumb our selves. May th e clear Lo rd clelciver us fr om a lop-sided Chri stianit y, from fait h without work s, fr om the body without th e spirit . Let us show by our manner of life that the fa ith we hold not only purifi es th e heart, but that it work s by love and purifie s the chur ch also. A good woman , after listening to a serm on on th e beaut y an d simpli city of God 's plan of salavation, ca111e up to the pr eacher and said_, "I want to ask you a qu estion.'' Th e pr eacher, who was accustome d to the use of the query box, said that he wou ld ga lclly an swer any question. She said, "Do you practice what you preach ?" That question came near er kno cking that pr eacher off his ga lavan ic batt ery than any he had received befor e. But , holding th e wom an by the hand , he answered her question by say ing, " If th e tim e eve r comes that I fai l to pract ice what I preach. T shall quit pr eaching until the practice catches up." How to produc e an efficient elclership is a present-day probl em that needs solving. T he lack of qu:ilifiecl over­ seers is a handi cap to th e church in many places. Th e chur ch will not shin e as clear as the sun , as fa ir as th e moon. and as terribl e as an army with bann ers whi le this condition 132 Abilene Christian College Lectures . ex ists. In solving thi s problem there are seve ral, prim e facto rs to be con sidered. A man to be an over-see r, or superint end ent , in the chu rch of Chri st mu st be th e result of five prim e facto rs. Fir st, natur e must do her part we ll. A man with no natural gift s cannot meet the demand . T ime is an element that cannot be d iscarde d, fo r it brin gs rip e­ ness, ex perience, and matu rity. T hen the Ho ly Spiri t ex­ pr esses the qualifications or lays clown the sta ndard of at­ ta inment. As the Holy Spirit mak es Chri stians by revea l­ ing God's will and inviting man to accep t, so that sa me spirit makes men ove r-seer or bishops in the chur ch of God. Before the Ho ly Spirit can make one a Chri stian. he mu st desire to adorn that cha racter that win please God. Befo re the Ho ly Spir it can make one a bishop, he mu st ,lc­ sire th e work . Desire it so ea rnestly as to meet the sta nda rd of meas ur ement. De sire is a factor not to be neglecte d. Having found one whose charac ter possesses th ese fo ur factors , it .is th en the duty of th e chur ch to recogni ze such and appoint him to the wo rk of an over-seer in th e house of God. As I face an audi ence of mor e than fo rty pr eachers and nearly as many "near" pr eachers, I am remind ed of anoth er probl em- the preacher prob lem. \i\fhat shall we do with the preachers? Yo u no doubt have hear d of the old sister's solution . A pr eacher who lived hard-by - and he may have lived" hard- up too- had a pea patc h, and th e sister had a mule. Th e mul e had a fondn ess fo r the pr eacher' s peas. So the pr eacher loaded his gun with beans and slipped too close to th e mul e befo re he shot. T he mul e manage d to get outside into the bru sh befo re he died . Suspicion rested heav ily on the prep.Cher; so he quit preach­ ing fo r a while. During th e sum mer revival he got warm ed up ; his old time zeal returned . He arose in meeting one day and said he loved everybod y and ex pected to meet nearly everyb ody in heave n . "B re thren, " he said, "t he Bapti sts will be there, and the Me thodist too ; so, aJ.so, will the Pr esbyte rians. But- and - br ethr en, what shall we do with the Carnpbellites !" Th e old sister whos e mule had been shot, ai·ose fro m the rear of th e audi ence and shout ed, Some Presen t-day Prob lems and Peri ls. 133

"S hoot 'em with beans." There are several phases to th e pr eacher pro blem, some of whic11n eed considering. E lderly pr each ers should encour age the youn ger by cheerful and optimi stic views of the ministry. Th ere should be no more jealousy or envy among old an d young preachers than ther e is betwee n one's ma nh ood and boy hood days. Pa ul, th e aged, needs a T imot hy as well as a T imothy needs a P aul. One of the most impo rtant phases of this problem is the attitud e of the chur ch to the preacher and the relation of th e preacher to the church. Should the chur ch take charg e of the pr eacher, or the preache r the chur ch ? Wha t is th eir relat ionship? Should a preache r hold membership and be in fellowship with a local, assem bly like other folk ? Should they be members where th ey live or somewhere else ? Are preache rs amenab le to the bishops or the bishops to th em ? Should a chu rch invite a preacher to labo r with th em when he repudiates the church an d her ove rseers? Can a chur ch script ura lly withdraw from a preac her when he ·does wron g­ and refu ses to rep ent , just as it can fro m anyone else? W hat should be the a.ttitude of othe r chur ches of Chri st towa rd the one wit hdrawn from? vVhat should be the atti­ tude twoa rd the chur ch that did th e wit hdraw ing? T hese questions are simp ly suggestive. A corr ect answer to them will help in solving the preache r prob lem . Many earn est, faithful , loyal, self -sacrificing men have gone preaching the gospel without money and without price. They recognized the local assemb ly with its bishops and deacons as the highest ecclesiastica l autho rity on eart h. vVith them the preacher is a mini ster or a servant of the churc h and is always amenabl e to th e congrega tion of which he is a member. Censorsh ip. The position of the religious censor is not always recognized or appr eciated. vVhat is sot\fld, or what is unsound is sometimes hard to deter mine. Th en th e ques­ tion ari ses, ""\l\fho made him a judge? W here did he get his auth or ity to pass on the soundness or un soun dness of another's teac hing?'' Does not the Apost le teach "to his own maste r he stan ds or falls?" Too often the ma n who differs fr om us, because he has learn ed more than we have, is pro- nounc ed a heretic, while th rnan who thi nk as we do is 134 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

sound in the fa ith , though he never spen t a mom ent in the examination of the foundatton of the fai th. Can a faithful mini ster affor d to trifl e with his conviction becau se some self-a ppoint ed censor cries, "un sound? " Th ere is no doubt , much teaching that should never be taught publicly or pri­ vate ly either. And th ere is much written that should never see th e light. As long as one's lif e is above reproac h, and he teach es fa ithfull y and plainly God's plan of salvat ion, should he be conde mned and disfellowshiped because he has clearer glimpses of some of God's great mvsteries than I have? No earthly censor can dictate to a faithful gospe l preacher. Th e overseers of the flock may suggest th e best message for the occasion , but the fa ithful messenger gets his aut horit y higher up. I hav e read a few books on religiou s. theo ries that I considered speculat ive ...... Some 6 f the ir theories I accepted. some I rejected ...... Sha ll I dis-fehlow ship the good broth er whose theory I rej ect? ...... I have resolved never to mak e anyth ing a test of fellowship that the Hol y Spirit has not mad e a condition of salvat ion.

"

JOHN STR A lT ON Origin, History and Position of the Churches 137 of Christ in the British Isles.

THE ORIGIN, HISTORY AND POS ITI ON OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN TI-IE BRITISH ISLES.

BY JoHN STRAI'l'O N . I esteem it a great privilege and honor to hav e the op­ portunity of addressing this representative body of students and preachers. The subject for our consideration is The Origin , History and Position of the Churches of Christ in the British Isles. With this subject I am familiar , and out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh. My more than twelve years residenc e in the great com­ monwealth of Texas has endeared to me the Churches of Christ in this State and has given me many convincing proofs of their good qualities, whil e my twi ce twelve years association in the day s of my youth and young ma nhood with the Churches across the seas hav e planted them deep in my heart, there to abide wit!, a love strong and fervent. Tonight I am not caHed upon to preach to you, nor yet to teach, admonish , or exhort. My role is that of the hi s­ torian, and I will try to place before you in the clearest pos­ sible light the rise , development, and pr esent position of those Churches with which I was formerly associated. Wherein they differ in faith or pra .ctice from the Chmches here I will paint the picture as faithfully as I can. I do not appear as an advocat e tonight , but only to give the fact s and let each draw his own conclusion. If I should be thought to show any partiality, my only defense is found in th e words quoted by the Savior: "No man having drunk old wine, straig-htway desireth th e new, for he saith the old is bette r." The American Restoration Movem ent began with the Declaration and Address of Thomas Campbell , and ha s de­ veloped in the full light of history , and may be compared to an underground river , which when it comes to the surface of the earth is flowing in full force and volume. The British Movement does not owe its origin to any one man . About the end of the eighteenth and begi11ning of the nineteenth century a few persons her e and there we~e 138 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

slowly grop ing their way towards a return to th e faith and practice of Chri st and His apostles as recor ded in th e New Testament. They may be compared to the drops of rain which fall upon the earth , but whose progress from the time they descend upon the earth and until they appear as part of a flowin g str eam cannot be clearly or fu],)y traced. The Chu rch at Ro se St reet, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, claim s to ha ve been formed in the year 1798. Thi s was the year that Th omas Campb ell received a call to a Presbyterian Church near Armagh , Ireland. I do not think that there is any question but that the Church at Kirkcaldy ha s been in continu ous ex istence fr om that time till now. and that they have observed the weekly breaking of bread and have oc­ cupied oth er dist inch·e New Testam ent position s. No doubt they have cha nged with the pa ssing of yea rs. and grown into a fuller knowledge of Scriptural teaching . All Chur ches grow . and th re ar e but few congr ega tions but have modified their teaching an d pract ice in some respects. In Ir eland. as ea rly as 1.804 . thre e yea rs before Thomas Campb ell, and five yea rs befo re his son, Alexa nder, sailed for America. a congrega tion of Independ ents had so far progr essed ;:i.s to break bread every first day of the week. and to est::iblish the mutual teaching of the brethren. Ab011t this time Ro bert Tener. who knew nothing of the existen ce o·f Baptist Chur ches. was struck by the accounts of missionary work among the heat hen . He saw that converts wer e always bapt ized after believing, and that this was in accordan ce with apo stoli c records. After a while he re­ moved to Dun ga nnon , but knew no one who could baptize him . Soon one Rob ert Sm ith . having completed his train­ ing for the ministr y, return ed to Dungannon. \i\Tith him Rob ert T ener sat up whol,e night s which resulted in his de­ termination to be baptiz ed. St ill they could not hear of a baptized believer in the whol e Nort h of Ireland exce pt one old man in the Count y of A rma gh. It was ag reed that Rob ert Smith should go to him an d be imm ersed and upon his return baptiz e Rob ert Ten er, l1is wife . and his own brother , William , which wa s done. The se four formed a Church after th e aposto lic order . It is plea san to sta te that Origin., Hi story and P ositi on of the Churches 139 of Christ in the British Isles. the descendants of th e Smith fam ily are still in fellowship with th e Chur ch in Lond onderr y, Ir eland . O ther relatives have come to the Unit ed States, and the famil ies by the name of Smit h, O liver and T ener are descend ed fr om th em. Sen­ ato r T ener of P ennsyl'vania is, I thin k, a dir ect desce ndent of Rob ert T ener of Pe nnsylvan ia. In 1825 a ma n in New ry received from a relative in the U nited Stat es a copy of Campb ell's debat es with vValker and Mc Calla on Bapti sm and severa l odd numbers of the Chris­ tian Bapt ist. In thi s way th e first news of the A merican Restoration Mov ement was bro ught to the Br itish Isles . A corr espondence wit h Alexa nd er Ca mpbell followed . and sev­ eral comp lete sets of hi s writings were sent to I reland. F rom the m a comm ercial• t raveler- a Mr. \iVoodn orth ­ learn ed the T ru th, and made it known in L iverpoo l and Not­ tingham, E ngland, and seve ral p laces in Scotland. Anot her beginin g may be not iced . In 1809 at Cox lane, a sma ll place in N orth \t\fales, there was a small body of be­ lievers who were led to a full er know ledge of th e T ruth by J ohn Dav is, who, a few yea rs lat er, was instru ment al in planting th e Chur ches at Chester and Mo llingto n . Alth ough here and there a few Chur ches were foun d approac hing th e pr imitive ord er they had litt le or no know l­ edge of each oth er and un til 1825 knew noth ing of the Ame rican Mov ement . In 1833 there was a small Scotc h Bapt ist Chur ch (a body differing very consider ably fr om bot h American and E nglish Bapt ists ) located in W indmill Str eet , F insbur y Square, Lon don, which was presided over by two venerable. but energetic, men nearly eighty years of age. It wa s not often that stra ngers found their way into this un pretenti ous building ; and when duri ng the sum mer months of 1833, a youn g ma n entered durin g publi c wo rship, it awa kened some curi osity . At the close of the serv ice he ta lked to one of the elders, who wa s none ot her than \i\fm. J ones, the well­ know n auth or of th e Biblical Cyclop edia, H istory of th e \iValdenses, an d other work s. T he stran ger's name was Peyto n C. Wyet h . He was an artist and had come fro m 140 A bilene Christian College L ectures.

America to Pa ris to improve himself in his prof ession . Aft er a stay in F rance he was on a visit to Engl and wh ere he kn ew no one. Fo r seve ral Lord's days he had wand ered about seek ing for some Chur ch where he could hear th e same doctrin e and find the same order of wor ship he had been accustomed to in the U nit ed States, but wherever he went he found himself sorely disappointed. It had please d Goel on that clay to conduct him into the chapel in Windmill Str eet, where he at once fo und him seH at home, and de­ light ed to see disciples worshiping Goel acco rdin g to Ne w T estame nt order. Mr . J ones was delighted to learn fr om th e American arti st of the work th at Campbell and his co-laborers were doing in th e U nited Stat es. He wrote to Alexand er Camp ­ bell in September of that yea r. One may be remin ded of conditi ons at that tim e when we learn th at it took Mr . . Jones's lett er seventy days to tr ave l fr om Lond on to th e U nit ed States. An int eresting corr espondence took place between these two great nien. In Ma rch, 1835, Jon es began the monthl y publi cation of the Millenial H arbin ger and Vo 1- unt ary Chur ch Advocate for the purp ose of republi shin g and circulat ing among th e Scotch Baptist Church es, of ·which he was a member, the writing s of Alexa nd er Campbell and other writin gs of the Re form ation Move ment. Th e bound volume for the yea r 1835 lies befo re me as I writ e. Th e first numb er is copies almost entir ely from th e writing s of A. Campbell, but contai ns also a lett er fr om J ames He n­ shal1, fr om which we learn th at th e Chur ch at Baltimor e, Md. had a meetin g hou se which th ey built th emselves. "neither asking other Church.es or th.e w orld f or one cent.'! Thi s Chur ch had as its officers: thr ee elders, thr ee deacons , and thr ee dea conesses . At that tim e th ere were five papers of th e Move ment being published in th e U nit ed Stat es. Mr. J ones was mistak en in his views of th e A merican Restor ation Move ment. He th ought it was a reform mov e­ ment among the Bapt ists, higher th an thi s he never aimed. With th e Jun e numb er of 1839 he ceased th e publication of his paper aft er a short life of sixteen month s. H e promi sed to resum e its publi cation af ter a rest of a few months, but Orig i11, Hi st ory aud Positio n of the Churc hes 141 of Christ i11 the Bri tish Isles.

never did so. He found that th e Re form ers, whom he had laud ed to th e heavens, paid no respect to Scotch Bapti st theology. It was clear that his reprint s of Mr . Campbell's articl es had shaken th e opinions of many of his readers, and that they were likely to aba nd on th at which was sectarian in th eir teachin g. T he seed which had been sown was des­ tin ed to bear fruit far beyond hi s wishes. In Ma rch , 1837, there appea red th e first issue of th e Chri stian Messenger and Reform er edit ed by James W allis of No ttin gham . Thi s paper ha s continu ed, und er several names, fr om that tim e to the pr esent day, and is still acti ve and useful. During the long period of eight y-two yea rs there has only been thr ee edit ors. J ames \i\f all is, fr om 1837 till th e close of 1861. Dav id Kin g fr om 1862 till hi s death in 1894, and Lancelot Oliver from th en till the close of 19 18. The pr esent edit or is R. K. Fran cis, an eva ngelist of abilit y and power. Our hope and pray er is th at he may be spar ed to carr y on th e work as long as any o f hi s pr edecessor s. Among the choicest possess ions in my libra ry is a set pra c­ tically completed of thi s magazin e fr om 1835 to th e present day . Most of the facts given in thi s lectur e are copied fr om the pages of thi s publication . It wa s my pri vilege to count David King , La ncelot Oliver, and Robert Knight Fr ancis among my dear personal friend s. T here was in Dund ee, Scotland , in th e yea r 1839, a con­ greg ation kno wn as the Unit ed Chri stian Chur ch, and hav­ ing a membership of about thr ee hundr ed. It s pasto r, who was destined to exe rt gr eat influenc e on th e Chur ches of th e Restorati on, was Georg e C. Reid. He is describ ed by one who knew him as a man of great int ellectual vigor and yet a man of deep and warm human sympath ies. He was wide awak e, a keen observer, quick at percei ving th e natur e and bearin gs of a question. Convinced of th e accura cy of his thou ght s before he utt ered them , th ey were expressed with an emphasis that mad e you feel he was pr epared to defend them to th~ utt ermo st. P ossessing a deep and powerful voice, he used it with grand effect. \i\lhen in an impass ioned mood he manife sted such flight s of eloquenc e that he seemed 142 Abilene Christian College Lectures. almost inspir ed. Th e writer continu es "I have heard many great peakers on sacred theme s includ ing Charles Spurg eon , but in my estimation non e wer e equal to George R eid. One could see at a glance even in his opening sentences that he was no common manufactur er of serm ons. He threw his who le be ing into his theme, and I have seen him , after an hour and a half' s speaking , with the veins 011 hi s forehead and hand s standin g up like whip cord s. I hav e known him. after an exc iting meet ing, lie pr<'lstrat e for a day or two befo re he could recove r stamina." On Thur sday evenin gs M r. Reid lectur ed to hi s congr e­ ga tion, his subj ects being tak en from E xo du s. From the passage of the Israe lites cro ssing th e Red Sea, he end eav ored to pro ve infant bapt ism. At the close of the service a few of the members mor e intim ate with the pa sto r t han the others adj ourn ed to the vestry where the discussion of any knotty point was continu ed. On th is occasion some ex ­ pr esse d the opinion that he had not establi shed th e scriptur ­ alness of infant sprinklin g. The inve stiga tion cont inu ed until eve n Mr. Reid began to doubt . At th e close of a ser­ mon on 1 John 5 ; 8, "T here are th ree that bear wit ness 011 ea rth , the spiri t, the wate r, and the blood, and th ese thr ee ag ree in one,'' th e question of believers bapt ism present ed itseH to his mind in so irr estibl e a mann er that he wa s un ­ ab le to any longe r sti fle his conv ictions. At th e close of his discour se he sta rtl ed his congr egation by decla rin g that he would be a clergyman no longer, that he was con vinced he had not been preaching th e Way of Salvation in its .fulln ess, and that he was now dete rmin ed that he would no longer sin aga inst God and hi s consc ience, but would him self be imm ersed, and tru st to th e L ord to guid e his lot in the futur e. A short time after his own bapti sm M r . R eid im­ mersed tw enty-two in the River Tay under a starry sky . The se formed the Ch ur ch of Chri st in Dund ee which still exists as a faithful and loya l congregatio n. M r. Reid did not hide his light und er a bushel. He soon became engaged in act ive and ard uous evange list ic servic e both in Scot land and Engla nd . Congregations were planted and exi sting ones strengt hened and increased. . He wa s th e Or igin, H istory and Posil'ion of the Churches 143 of Christ in the Britis h~ I sles.

first eva ngelist of the pr imitive Gospe l in the Brit ish Isles. In his tour s he went fort h vvithout pu rse, w ithout conn ection with any comm itt ee, depending only upon such help as th e Chur ches mi ght be disposed to supply . But hi s journ eys soon led him to see the need of some system of co-ope rat ion amon g the Chur ches. T he congregat ions we re few in mem­ bership, poo r in the thing s of this wo rld. and utte rly un able to do much ind ividually fo r the suppo rt of a p reacher and th e spr ead of the Gospel •. T hose who hav e read Charles K ingsley' s book "A lton Locke " can for m some idea of th e conditions of things in Scot land and E ngland at that time . • But without some refe rence to history one can hard ly im­ ag ine. fa r less realize. the poverty and distre ss of that period. Th ese ci rcurnstanc es led M r. R eid to issue an ad­ dress to the bret hr en in Novembe r . 1841. H e sa id. "W e want a corr ect co-ope rat ive plan for the br inging out, and continu ing in the field of labor . of efficient men to pro claim the glad tidings of salvation . In what stat e a re th e Scotch Bap tist Chur ches in consequence of their supine ness a fte r so many yea rs of existence! At deat h's doo r! And shall we follow in their wake ? Eve ry gratefu l hea rt says . N o! No ! Neve r ! In what state woulid the Re-fo rmat ion in America have been now but for the exe rt ion of their zealou s and self-deny ing proc laimers ? A nd shall Br itons lag be­ hin d? The simult aneous shout we hea r even n ow is "W e will go forward!" Yes , an d we have eve ry reson to antici­ pate a glorious victo ry. W e will, th erefor e, suggest th at th e elderships of the Nott ingham and Dun dee Church es be re­ quested to take this matte r into considerat ion, and that all those congregat ions th at desire thi s thing to go fo rward should corr espo nd with th e said elders on th e subjec t and sugges t th e means by which it may be best exe cuted . Let us qui t our selves like men ." In respo nse to this appea l, a general meet ing of br ethren was held at E dinbur gh. Scot land in August. 1842. At that ti1ne some fifty Chu rches we re kn own. Th ese had a mem­ bership of abou t 1,300 giving an average me mbership of only h1·enty-six. One brother of mo re, \]:ian_ ord inary lt). :-- 144 Abilene Christian College Lectures. terest to us in America was present at that meeting. I refer to Philip C. Gray. He was spa red to send a letter of greet­ ing to th e jubilee meeting in J 892, which was also held in Edinburg , a gathering at which I had the pleasure of being present. On April 6th, 1849, a company of sixteen includ­ ing Brother Gray and his family left Edinburgh, Scotland for America. Nearly all the Church members were at the sta tion to bid them God-speed. Arriving in this country they settled in the State of Wisconsin. Religious meetings were held in private homes in which Brother Gray took an active part during the time he remained ther e. In 1857 he moved to Detroit which was his home till the time of his • death. His son, John S. Gray. followed in the footsteps of his father. He rendered yeoman service to the Church at Plum Street, Detroit . During his frequent visits to the old country I had the privilege an d plaesure of becoming well acquainted with him . His son, th e grandson of Philip C. Gray , is now an act ive and honor ed worker in the Churches of Detroit. The year of the first general meeting was also the year in which David Kin was baptized. Of all th e writers and preachers which the hom eland has had , no one ha s exerted a greater influence or been more faithful to the Truth than David King. During the next fifty years he labored with pen and voice to preach th e Gospe l, to establ,ish the Churches in the Faith , and above all to resist those who ·would ha ve perverted the Gospel of Christ. The period from 1842 till 1847 was not marked by much increa se. Efforts were made to have Alexander Campbell visit the old country . He, with James · Henshall, visited Scot land and England in 1847. So much had been read of Mr. Campbell's immens e audience s in America and of num­ ero us conversion s, that many were expecting similar results in Britain. But though good ha!,Js were occupied and some considerable audiences assembled, add ition s were small, 01ving to the different conditions, politically and religiou sly, between that country and this. On reaching London , Mr. Campbell was the honored uest of the 1Jniteq StE1,te5Mini st~r 1.1tthi: cc:iur~ of St .. Origin, History and Position of the Churches 145 of Christ in the Br itish Isl es.

Jame s, . the Hon. George Bancroft , the distinguished his­ torian ; an d through him, as well as throu gh lette rs from the first men of this country, Mr. Campbell was th e recipient of honor s and attentions from the great leaders and mould­ ers of thought in England. Other experiences not so pleasant fell to his lot . While in Edinburgh, thr ee clergymen called upon him to congratulate him on his arriv al in that city , etc., and to inquir e of him the position which he held toward s American slaver y. Shortly afterwards bills were posted all over the city denouncing Campbell as the abettor and upholder of menstealers. So excited becam e the people that Mr. Campbell had reluctant ly to abandon the delivery of his last lectur e. A Pre sbyterian preacher, chal1enging him to public debat e, wrote, " I am prepared to maintain th at your position and opinions on the question of American slavery and slave-holdin g are at once ungodly , unchri stian, and inhuman . Mr. Campbe ll replied in a vigoro us manner and said some things that Mr. Robert­ son, the afo rementi oned clergyman, did not like. To soot he his ruffled feelings and repair the injur y Mr. Campb el,J's remarks had done his reputati on, he sued Mr. Campbe ll for twenty-five thousand dollars damages, but on the sugges­ tion of a fri end he reduced the amo unt to one thou sand. Mr. Campbell was adver tised to lecture in Belfa st, Ir eland. and was abo ut to sail for that place when Mr. Robe rt son had him arrested on a fuge wa rr ant as· leaving th e countr y without waiting the result of this suit. And so Campbell became an inmate of Glasgow jail. While there his meals were brought to him by two young lad ies, Sister Linn and her cousin, Sister Gilmer. In after years it was my privileg e to be a memb er of the same congregat ion as Sister Gilmer , who in course of time had become Mrs. Dowie. A note of suspension and liberat ion was presented on Mr. Campbe ll's behalf to Judge Mur ray who promp tly orde red him to be set at liberty as there was no ground for the alleged libel on which th e impri sonment was based. . In October, 1847, a second general meeting of the Br it­ ish Chur ches was held at Cheste r, England, at which Mr. i46 Abi lene Christian College Lectur es.

Campb ell pr esided. The need for some kind of a co-opera­ tive plan whereby the small. weak and scatte red congrega­ tion s could unit e th eir forces was still fe lt as mu ch as when Brother Reid had issued hi s appeal five or six years before. T here we re pre sent at the m eeting br ethr en from Eng land, Scotland , Ireland , and \i\lales. Th e first resoluti on wa s "That all the Chur ches now represented agre e to co-operate in contribu ting to th e supp ort of a general evangeJ,ist." Two brethr en at Nott ingham and one at Ne wark were appoint ed as th e comm itt ee to carr y the plan of co-opera tion into effect. Th e last reso luti on was that a meetin g of me ssengers from th e Chur ches be held in the city of Glasgow , durin g the th ird wee k of eptember in the year 1848. Th e an nu al meeting thu s begun has m et every yea r fr om 1847 clown to last yea r . T he plan of co-operation ha s r e­ mained practi cally th e same. The meet ing is a ma ss m eet­ ing of br ethr en, open to all, without authority of any kind. Each yea r a committ ee is selected to look aft er th e genera l ev·ange listic work fo r t he tim e being. Fo r m any year s m y Br itish br ethr en honored me with a place on that committ ee. The British br ethr en a re very jea lous that eccles iastisms o f any kind should not grow up among them . In 1861 th e fol­ lowing resoluti on was passed to define and limi t the wo rk of the co-operat ing Chur ches : "That thi s co-operat ion shall embr ace such of the Chur ches cont endin g fo r th e primitive faith and ord er, as shall willingly be place d up on th e list of Chur ches prin ted in its ann ual report. That the Church es thu s co-ope rating disavow any int enti on or desi re to recog ­ nize th emse lves as a denomin at ion, or to limit their feUow­ ship to th e Chur ches th us co-ope ratin g, but on the contr ary, they avow it both a dut y and a pleasur e to v isit, receive and co-operat e with Chri stian Chur ches. w ithout refer ence to their tak ing pa rt in the meet ings and effort s of thi s co-ope r­ ation. f\ lso, that this co-operat ion has fo r its object evan­ gelization on ly, and discla ims all powe r to settl e matte rs of discipline or differences betw een brethr en or Chur ches.'' To thi s ideal th e br ethr en have ad hered with rema rkable fidelit y. Th ere is no such t hing as buy ing a place on t he committ ee by payin g a sum of money, nor a re there any lif e memb ers. Orig ·in, History and Pos ·it-ion of the Churches 147 of Christ in the Bri tish I sles.

Br ethr en are asked to serve on th e commi ttee becau se of th eir supposed ab ility to serve the work and not becaus e of their wea lth or worl dly sta ndin g. T o return to our histori c sketch , th e period ex tendin g fr om the first meetin g held in Edinbur gh in 1842 to that held in Glasgo w in 1848 show s an increase of Chur ches from fifty to eight y-seve n, and of membe rs fr om 1,300 to 2,057, an additi on of 757 members in six year s. Th e next eight year s showe d but little prog ress du e to int ern al difficulti es, ,vhich , ala s ! were imp ort ed fr om th e U nit ed States . T here had been bapt ized by \i\Talter Scott. one Dr. J ohn Th omas. A ft er a short and stormy ,::areer among the Amer ican Chur ches, he repudia ted his bapt ism by Scott , and was imm ersed int o th e Gospe l of th e La nd of Canaan and Mate rialism. In 1848 Dr. Thom as visited th e British Chur ches, but concealed fr om them th e fa ct th at he had repudiat ed his bapti sm by Scott on th e simple conf es­ sion that J esus is the Chri st, th e Son of God. He was at first received by the br ethr en with open arm s, bu t as hi s real pos ition became kno wn he was repudi ated. T homasism, or Chri stadelphianism, became, as it remains to thi s clay, a body .with but small power against the Tru th. Durin g the next ten yea rs considerable progress wa s made. Amo ng a numb er of evangel~sts two sta nd out with promin ence, David Kin g, who labored first with the Chur ches in Lo nd on, and later plant ed the cause in Man ­ cheste r ; the other, J. R Ro therh am, who is kn own to many as the able t ranslator of th e E mphasised Bible. In 1866 th e Chur ches had increase d to ove r one hun clr eel, with a cor­ respon din g increase in membership. Prog ress continu ed normal until abo ut 1876 when t he br ethr en were called up on to face new and serious difficulti es. At the beginnin g of th e Move ment the Brit ish and A mer­ ican Chur ches occupied pr actically the same position. bu t their development proceeded along somewhat diffe rent lines. (Pe rh aps it is as well to say that in Br ita in, the bre thr en use the word "A merican" to describ e those Chu rches which we in this countr y call "D igressive," while the old British 148 Abil ene Christian College Lectures.

Churches come more nearly to correspond with the loyal Churches of this country. Hereafter I am to be understood as using the words "American" and "British" in that sense. Our loyal brethren and papers are · not so well known in the old country as their merits entitle them to be.) Thi s differenc e in development was noticed in Great Britain in 1868 and 1869, and David King wrote a series of nine lett ers prote sting against the growing spirit of digres­ sionism . These letters were published both in papers in the United States and in the British Millenial H~rbinger. Among the things to which Brother King objected were: The practice of open communion or permitting the unbap­ tized to have feMowship at the Lord's Table. This has grown until now there are Christian Churches which advo­ cate receiving the unimmersed into membership .· The use of the title "Rev.," a practice which in some small degree is being tol erated by some loyal preachers as witnesseth the telephone directories and newspaper reports. The tendency to make the evangelist into the pastor was yet a third thing to which Brother King objected. In reply to a critic he wrote, "I have no quarrel with education nor with educa­ tional institutions . Nor do I suppose that your coHeges are too numerous , or that too many young men are being edu­ cated for the Lord 's great Gospel work. I may not be quite satisfied with some sample of college made pastors, and I may conclude that the fewer we have of such the better ." And man y of us in thi s count _ry are quite ready to say Amen to that . Of th e early Christians Mr. King quoted because that for His Names's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles . Milking the goats had not then become fashion­ able in the Church. The British Churches have always re­ fused to accept money from the unsaved for the Lord's work. At that time Mr. King thought that the great majority of the Churche s in America were still loyal Of them he wrote that "there is conflict between those who would re ­ trace , to a large exte nt , the steps taken by A. Campbell, and those who stand firm , cafmot be denied. · Every Reforma - Origin, History and Position of the Churches 149 of Christ in the British Isles. tion when it gains powe r and larg e progre ss comes to a point when half-heart ed support ers in th e camp play into the hand s of those by whom th e Movement ha s been opposed at every stage and in every possible way. So it is now (1868) in th e Church es in America. There are tho se who ought to be with the sects they so much love. The y are gen­ erall v preachers mad e at the colleges, therefore, it be­ hooves us to take care that in calling for American evan­ gelists we do not import men of the wrong stamp ." T hat the British br ethren generally shared the views expr essed by David King is evident from the fact that the annual meeting of th e Churches co-operating for evange l­ istic work held in 1866 passed th e following resolution: "T hat we learn with deep regret that some evangelists in America commune at the Lord 's Table with unbaptiz ed per­ sons, who ,without formal invitation , as it is alleged, on their own responsibi,J.ity, partake; we hereby decline to sanction evange'listic co-operati on with any broth er, whether from America or elsewhere, who knowingly commun es with un­ baptized persons, or who in any way advocates such com­ munion. " In the early days of th e British Move ment one of its most prominent workers was Timothy Coop, of Wigan, England. His energy and bu siness ability enabl ed him to become comfortably wealthy. As early as 1847 he had a stro ng desire to visit America . Thi s desire he exp ressed to A. Campbell when he visited England, but Brot her Camp­ bell urg ed that his duty to the congregation at Wigan de­ manded that he stay there. This settled the quest ion for a number of years. In the spring of 1869 Mr. Coop and his wife mad e the long desired visit to th e United Sta tes. While here he attended th e annual meeting of th e Chri stian Mis sionary Society of th e State of Ohio. Brother Coop writes , "Broth er Isaac Errett was then President of AHiance College and was living in th e town. I well remember takin g tea with his family and spendin g an afternoon at his hom e with General Garfie ld. During th e Convention General Gar- field gave one of the grand est addresses I have ever heard . 150 Abi lene Christian College Lect ·ures.

It seemed to me that we had gotte n int o a new world . H is add ress was char acte rized by such a compreh ensive outlook and such wide-sweep ing genera lizatio ns." A ft er a few month s in the Slate s Brot her and Sister Coop return ed to their home in E ngland . but un fo rtun ate ly for the peace and progr ess of the Br itish Churc hes he bro ught back with him th e seeds of digrc-sive teach ing which in a few yea rs were dest ined to bear th eir usual fruit . In 1872 Broth er Exl ey from the U nited State s was pr es­ ent at the A nnu al Conf erence of br ethren . Aft er careful inquir y into l:lrother Exley 's pos ition on th e quest ion of communing with th e unb aptized the bre thr en declined to emplo y Broth er Ex ley as an evangelist. Thi s action by th e brethren greatly exc ited Brot her Coop , between whom and Brothe r Ex ley thrre had grown up a personal fri endship . The tend ency of I \ra ther Coop's mind is shown by th e fol ­ lowing ex tr act fr om one of hi s lett ers : "The Bap tists in Wigan and th e br ethr en are much more fri endl y now than form erly, and if we had mo re eva ngelists in thi s town I have no doubt but that they \rnu ld interchange with us.'' In 1875 the fo rei!sn Chri st ian M issionary Society of America was for the first time pract ically inaugurated, and one of th e first foreig n missionarie s sent out wa s Mr. H . S. Ea rl who wa s senl to E nglan d to open work th ere. Th us began th e digr essive invasion of the Br itish Is les, Th e wo rk thu s bega n ran its sepa rat e ex istence fo r many yea rs, but was a disapp ointm ent even to its best fri ends. Compa re the first sixtee n yea rs of the American Mov ement in En g-­ la nd with the first sixteen yea rs of the nativ e Briti sh wor k. During thi s period th e For eign Chri stian M issionary Society spent thousand s of dollar s an d sent over some of the best preachers America could pro duce. among whom we re Brothe r V\1. T . Moore, Brothe r Mob ly. now of Ama rillo, and many others. In the first sixteen year s the B riti sh Mo vement numb ered eighty-o ne Chur ches with ove r two th ousand me'mbers ; at ihe end o f fc rt y years the import ed digressive Mo vement had only about sixtee n Chur ches with less than two thousa nd members. In 1901 a rnov ment was begun to bring abo ut a union Origi'n, Eistory and Position of the Churc hes 15i of Christ in the Britis h Isles. betwee n th e two gro up s of Church es. A pamp hlet printed in 1905 gave a epo rt of the effo rt s mad e to secure thi s. union . In the Introduction it describes th e difference s be­ tween the British Churches and the A merican in these words: "T he Churche s in America did not continu e st rictly upon the same lines. A semi-cle rical class eme rged, a spi rit of complianc e with secta riani sm was man ifest, the Ta ble of the Lord was displaced from its central position, Mutual T eachin g gave way to Serm ons, the E lde rship was subordi­ nate to the Evangelist rankin g as Pa stor. For the pure of­ fering of prais e of sanctified lips was subst itut ed mu sical performances with instrum ents, an d in some cases paid alien sing ers. Mo ney was solicited and accepted fr om all willing to contribut e, and , of logical consequence, those no t scripturall y qualified were adm itted to pa rticipat ion in the privile ges of th e Lord 's people." The effo rt to get togeth er the two gro up s of Churches continu ed int errnittin gly t il'l 19 17, when the fift een Chur ches of the Chri stian Assoc iation (T he Ame rican Gro up) with 1,341 members became identified with the Chu rches of Chri st wh ich co-operate for eva ngd istic purp oses only. How fa r the American group has been mod ified lack of informa ­ tion prevents me fr om say ing. Howeve r, a few of the older British bret hre n are not yet quite reconciled or sat isfied wit h th eir n ew assoc iates. And now having give n you a br ief and imp erfect ske tch of the rise and progre ss of the Br itish Chur ches let us pay a visit to one of their cong rega tion s. The building as we approach it is not consp icuous, neith er for its orn ate ness nor for its shabb iness . A neat, comfortable and modern erection meets our view. 'N e pau se a minut e at the outside to read the Not ice Boa rd at the door. Chri st ians' Meeti ng Ho use or some such name meet s our eye. The pr inted list of Church es show s such nam es as Oxfo rd Street Chape l, West St reet Hall, Hope Chape l, Townholm Asse mbly Ha ll, Gospe l Hall, Bet hesda Chape l, etc. The br ethren in the old country are carefu l to dist ingui sh betwe en the house where the Chu rch meets and th e Chur ch itself . They have not yet 152 Abilene Christian College Lectures.

acquired the bad habit of speaking of the Church building as the Church, and so they are careful that the Notice Board should not read "T he Church of Christ" as if that were the name of the edifice, but when such words are used they read "The Church of Christ meets here for' ' and . then follows the announcements. The first is usually Bible Study or Sun­ day School. The second is Worship (including the Break­ ing of the Bread); and the third is preaching. This distinc­ tion betwe .en worship and preaching is a vital matter to these British brethr en, and as far as is known to me not a single Notice Board ha s th e word "preaching" as descriptive of the morning servic e. As we reach the bottom of the Board the chances are that the preacher's name is conspicuous by its absence. Not one of them would think of advertising their evangelist as minister. On account of their opposition to the one-man ministry they are ofte n spoken of by the sects as having no mini ster. This, of cour se, is a mistak e . An amusing story is sometimes told by an old friend of min e, Brother John Brown, who had a tailor 's shop opposite the meeting house. A visitor to Mr. Brown's shop remark ed to him "I under­ stand that these people have no min ister." "That is a mis­ take " said Mr. Brown, "they have several ministers. If you look across the str eet ju st now you will see one of them sweep ing out the hall." In this way Mr . Bro wn laid empha­ sis upon th e fact that the word "m iniste r" simply means servan t, and that any person who renders any kind of serv­ ice has as much righ t to be called a mini ste r as th e one who proclaim s the Gospe l. Ind eed the exp ression "T he Min­ ister" ( with emphas is on th e definit e article) is, in their judgment , ju st as un scriptural as the exp ression "The Pas­ tor '' or "The Clergyman." Having finished reading the Notice Board we step inside the building. At once we are impr essed with the quietness of the assembly. "A solemn silence frlled th e hall and touched the heart s of all." There is no bu stle , no loud hum of conver sat ion, no laughing or anything of that kind. There is a rev erence , a dignity, and a solemnity about th e gather­ ings that seems becoming at a time and place where the God Origin, History and · Position of the Chu.re hes 153 of Christ ·in the British Isl es. of th e univ erse condescends to be pr esent , and ha ve fellow­ ship wit h hi s people. As th e appointed time draws near a number of men take thei r place s on the rostrum or platform as the British breth­ ren usually call it. If th ere is any professiona 'l pr eacher present he is not on the stand but sittin g with th e audience in th e audit orium . Th ese brethr en ar e usually the elders and such deacons as will assist that clay at the servic e of the Lord 's Tabl e. At the appo inted hour the pr esidin g elder. who is in th e cente r of the group , anno unc es the numb er of the openin g hymn, which he will usually read right through from beginning to encl. Indeed, all the hymns are a lways read befor e being sung. Thi s is probably a surviva 'l from bygone day s when hymn book s were scar ce and audiences illiterat e, and it wa s necessa ry to read the hym ns sta nza by stanza in orde r that the congregat ion might be able to join in th e ingin g. No importance ·s attached to thi s cu stom , alth ough it is looked upon and used as a very helpful way to tra in younger bret hr en to become public reader s. ln looking through the ir hymn book, one is struck by th e absence of rag-time ditti es. The re is but one song book in common use in all th e Church es. The pre sent edition is but a revision of an older one which goes back thirty or forty yea rs. Th e ope ning song may be that splendid poem hy Isaac Watt: -

Before Jehovah's awful throne, Ye nation s bow with sacred joy ; Know that th e Lord is God alone; H e can create , and He destroy . or it may be anoth er equa .l,ly as old, one by J ohn Ne wton slightly alt ered to suit the occasion:-

Safely through anot her week , God has brought us on our way; Let us all His blessings seek Waiting in Hi s courts toda y ; 154 Abi lene Christ-ion College Lectitre s.

Day of all the week the best, E mblem of etern al rest.

Af ter the singin g o f th e one openin g hymn the opening praye r is offered. T he universal attitud e· of th e Briti sh br ethr en durin g pra yer is that of standin g with reverent bowed head. T hey have no objection to kneeling, but ina s­ much as the seats there, as here, are usually so constru cted as to make kneeling inconvenient , if not impo ssible, they stand. 'vVhen I first came to Texas, a good bro ther sus­ pected me of digressive tendency because I alone stood while the rest of the congregation Jolled in their seat s. Aft er pra yer there follows th e readin g of th e Scriptur e lesson s. T he presiding elder will say , " Our Old T estament lesson fo r today is Isaiah. Chapter 53, and Broth er Smith will att end to the read ing.'' A fter the bro ther has read his passage , the elder will ann oun ce th e Ne w Tes tam ent lesson as Acts, Chapte r 8, which Brother Brown will plea se reacl. Th e New Te sta ment is read through from beginning to end which takes about five yea rs. T he Old Tes tam ent lesson~ are usuaHy chosen beca use of their conn ection with the sub­ ject matter of th e Ne w. T hese lessons are selected by a good broth er and published at the beginnin g of th e yea r for the following twe lve months. All the Church es read the same lessons on th e same day mu ch as we all use th e Int er­ national suJJjccts in our Sun day Schools. All th e br ethr en who can read are encour aged by th e brethr en to do so. Th e custom is for each congregat ion to prepare a plan for thr ee months showing th e lessons and the brot her who is exp ected to read each. T his gives the reader ample time for pr epa­ ration and pr act ice. I must say these reading s ar e done very well. This reading custom, if not derived from , is at least similar to. the anci ent J ewish custom in the synag ogue where the Law and th e Prop hets were read eve ry Sabbath Day . (A cts XIII , 15, 27. ) Foll owing the readin gs th e president says, "Th ere is now opportunit y for the singing of another hymn .'' Some broth er rises, announc es, and reads anoth er song , whi ch al­ most invariably has some bearing on th e Communi on Serv- Origin, History and Position of the Chitrches 155 of Christ in the British Isles. ice. The hymn book contains not less than thirty-six songs all with special reference to the Lord 's Table , while ther e are thirty-two devoted to the Lord's day itself . Perhaps this morning the brother selected a very old song by an ancient monk , Bernard of Clairvaux, translated into English by Ray Palmer.

Jesus, Thou Joy of loving heart s! Thou Fount of Life! Thou Light of men! From all the bliss that earth impart s. We turn unfilled to Thee again.

Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood ; Thou sa vest tho se that on Thee call; To them that seek Th ee, Thou art good ; To th em that find Thee , all in all.

On Thee we feast. Thou Living Bread! And her e would feed upon Thee still; Here drink of Thee, Thou Fountainhead, \tVhose str eams each thir sting soul can fill.

Our restless spirit s yea rn for Thee. \tVhere'er our changeful lot is cast; Glad, when Thy gracious smile we see, Blest. when our faith can hold Thee fast.

Oh , Jesu s. ever with us stay! Make all our moment s calm and bright; Chase the dark night of sin away , Shed o'er the world Thy holy light.

Thi s song marks the close of the introductor y exe rcises of the day and prepares the way for the spec ial object of the meeting . For the British brethren like those at Treas come together on the first day of the week to br~ak bread, and the discourse , whether by a Paul or some lesser light , is inci ­ dental and subordinat e to the main purpose of the gathering. 156 Abilene Christian College Lectures.

Almost always the presiding elder makes a short helpful address as an introduction to the breaking of the bre ad. Thi s is no wearisome reiteration of platitudes but a care­ fully studied and prepared exhortation to bring in our wa n­ dering mind s from the peri shing thing s of time and sen se and center them upon Je sus. Th e manner of attending to this institution diff ers but littl e from our own. Perhaps it is worthy of mention that the table is placed on the platform on the same level or elevat ion as the elders and the preacher. Perhap s there is the feeling in some of their minds that it wou ld be derogatory to the divin e institution to hav e it oc­ cupy a lower place . So far everythin g that has · been said and done has been said or done as a preparation for th e Communion Service. One is mad e to feel that thi s is a re­ union of the family of God- a gathering for worship and praise. After the contribution s ha s been take11 up , anot her song is given out and read. This time it is by a poet of our own. Gilbert Y. Tick le, who met Alexa nder Campbell when he landed at Liverpool. V\Te join th em as they sing.

\ i\/ e close the feast , so sweet. so blest, The pledge of our ete rnal rest, When glory shaLI, our souls invest. And we shall feast with Thee!

Th ou, blessed Lord , a fea st shalt spread Whose living wine and living bread Shall lift with endle ss joy each head That sits and fea sts with Thee.

\1\/ ithin Thy Father's kin gdom , then , Thy saints redee med from every stain , Shall hail J-lis univ ersal reign , And give all prai se lo Th ee. Th yseH the tru e and living Vine , Shalt nouri sh them with fruit divine. And they shall be for ever Thine rn·perfect Ii fe wifh Thee. ' Origin, History and Position of the Churches 157 of Christ in the British Isles.

No foe to mar their bliss complete , No sin, no stain, no death to meet , All cru shed beneath Thy conquering feet, They live at home with Thee.

Oh, Jesus, till we thence remove , May this sweet token of Thy love, This antepast of joys above , Still bring us near to Thee .

At the close of this hymn a short time will be given for the prayers of the Church , when several brethren unnam ed and unsolicited by the brother conducting the service will offer brief ferv ent prayers. One feels as if the service had come to an appropriate encl, but no, it is not yet over. The elder intimates, "This is the tim e for teaching and exhortation; if any brother ha s a word to say to the congregation, this is his opportunity. " Aga in we are reminded of the synagogue. "Ye men and br ethr en, if ye hav e any word of exhortation for the people say on." And nearl y always some brother is prepared with a brief exhortation-some non-profes sional preacher who will receive no pay for preaching. Or if there is an evan ­ gelist pr esent, the eider' s notice will be to this effect: "W e have Brother Wallace with us toda y. We are sure the breth ­ ren win desire to hear him , and•so we invite him to addres s the meeting . The Briti sh brethren lay great stress on the question of mutual mini stry - teaching and admonishing one another. From a· recent issue of the Bible Advocate I quote the fol­ lowing: "The principle of mutual teaching is clearly a New Testament one; a constitutional law in the Chur ch of Chri st.'' And mark this "The Chur ch is so constituted that unle ss the means for its edification are car ried into practi ce its spiritual Ii fe will suffer. . . . We contend that it is the right and priv ilege of alL male member s of the Chur ch. duly qualifi ed, to share in the ex hortation and teac hing of the Chur ch." This plan has worked well wit h the Church es 158 Abilene Christian College Lectures. in Great Br itain . It ha s developed into usef ul workers many member s, and made congregations stro ng which would hav e been weak and sickly if they had had to depend on the min ­ istration of a paid professional preacher. The usual closing .exe rcises of singing and prayer follow and the assembly is then dismissed. And now in conclusion let me give a brief state ment of the pre sent st rength of these Chur ches. There are now 208 congregations on the list of co-operating Churches which report a total memb ership of 16,437. They rai sed for Foreign Mission work during the twelve months ending June 30th. 1918, th e sum of over twelve thousand dollars or about 75c per annum per head. They sustai n about twelve white workers in India, Siam. and Afr ica. I see by a prospectus of a proposed senior college signed by reliabl e brethren that it is estimated that there are 100,000 loyal disciples in the State of Texa s. I think th e census return s gives Disciple s of Christ ( two bodies) as 1,600,000. Is it too much to claim one-third as faithful Chri stians? If we gave only 75c per head per annum to the foreign work how many missionarie s would we hav e today in the distant places of the earth preaching the Gospe l of Salvation through a Savior who said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospe l to every creature ?" .. G. H.P. SH OWALT ER God R eve aled. 161

GOD REVEALED.

Bv G. H. P. SHOWALTER. "No one knoweth the Son save the Father; neither doth any know the Father , save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reve al him " (Matt. 11 :27). With the wording but slightly different Luke also record s this lan ­ guage of Christ: "No one knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him" (Luke 10 :22). I take it that the Saviour meant to teach that aside from revelation -w ithout revelation-it is impossible to know God. Without this man can neithe r know him nor know who he is. It is impossible to form any sa fe, adequate, or cor rect conception of his infinite , divine attributes-of his ete rnal power, of his exalted, matchless dignity , or of the supreme holin ess of his character-un less it is revealed to us through those supernaturally endowed . That a knowl­ edge of God is of the high est importance, and that revela­ tion is, as a consequence, of the greatest value is set forth in the clearest possible term s by our Saviour in the interces­ sory prayer: "T his is life eternal that they might know thee, the onl,y true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17 :3). The reception of ete rnal life depends upon a knowledge of God, and of Christ, and a knowledge of them depends upon revelation . The author of the Hebrew letter in beginning this remarkable document, states concisely what is claimed by all writers of the sac red canon-God has spoken to man . He is very specific, sub­ mitting two clear and distinc t propositions. 1. God spoke to the ancient s through the prophets. 2. God has now spok en to u,s by his Son. ( See Heb . 1 : 1). I shall address myself first to arguments sustaining the proposition that God can be known only through revelation , and shal l seek to sustain the conclusion that this revelation is given man in the book we call the Bible. I shall next show that this revelation was progressive , and, so far at least as 162 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

our pr esent state, condition, and hope are concern ed, losed in the first centur y of th e Chri stian era. It is conceded by all th at th e idea of Goel is in the world. No w an idea can not obtain except for th e ex istence of th e obj ect or th e thin g which originates th e idea. A littl e stud y of concepts will mak e thi s perf ectly clear, I pr esum e, to all th oughtful and hon est mind s. Eve ry word repr esenting a name is coined in accord ance with thi s invariable law. Let us tak e th e word "hor se." T his is a term used to designate a distin ct concept or idea. W henever thi s word is employed there is, in the min d, a cert ain distin ct and peculiar concept of idea-one th at does not present itself to th e mind when any other word is employed. If we should use some oth er word, "pig," fo r exa mple, we would have an idea in the mind wholly different fro m what th e mind would ent ert ain when the word "horse" is used. W hen th e latt er term is · used, we think of a certa in kind of anim al, and the word is used to repr esent but a single species. Ho wever, th e species mu st first be in existence, else th ere can be no such an idea, nor could th ere be a word , expr essive, at least, of th e slight­ est int elligence to us, fo r a word is nothin g more than a vehicle for conveying an idea. The ord er is : 1. Th e ex istence of th e species or the thin g. 2. Th e idea or concept. 3. T he word , th e vehicle of conveyance. N or is it possible to change this ord er, or dispense with the relati ons th at appea r th erein. ·w hen we have an idea, there is of necessiy, in ex istence, or ha s been in ex istence, the thing that produ ced the idea. W e have th e wor d "hor se," and th e idea conveyed by it, and there are horses ; we have the word "mous e" and the idea conveye d by it, and there are mice; we have the word "Go d" and th e idea con­ veyed by it, and God is. Vie might illustr ate with one th ous­ and words and the result would be the same. T ry to use a word that conveys no idea- rath er t o coin a word th at ex­ presses no idea, and behold the blank on the mental canvas. Thr? w toge ther any numb er of vowels or consonant s repre­ sentmg no known word and observe tha t it expre sses no idea. either mater ial or abstr act. I ,vill thro w together some let- God Revealed. 163

ters and make the word Oldze. Now you might pronounce this combination of letters but they convey no intelligent si

and wond erful Jes on- int ended for all subsequent age s of the wor ld- that God 'is the grea t Provid er. v\Then a ram was furni shed Abraham to offer in lieu of his son. he built an altar and called t he nam e of it J ehova h-Jir eh-- the Lord. the Prov ider. This concept ion of God has rema ined in th e \\"oriel. Eve ry man of faith in th e wo rld today looks to God as the grea t Prov ider. \Ve may not always und erstand h0vv provis ion is to be made, Abra ham evidentl y did not. But he. as the fat her of the fa ithful ·, and a the fri end of God, and as a prop het . had lea rn ed a lesso n t hat all good men should learn that: "I t may not be my way , It may not be thy way ; And yet in H is own way , Th e Lo rd will prov ide."

God is not only the infinit e, exa lted, being of dignity and a\re ; he is not only the God of powe r, the Almighty, but he is also the great Provide r, and Pau l, the apost le, consoled himself with thi s knowledge when the assur ance was given· him, " I will neve r leave the e nor forsak e thee; my grace is s11fficient fo r thee ." · Some cent uri es had passed when to Moses God revealed him self as J ehova h, and as the "I am. " As the children of Israe l journeyed through the wildern ess and made that wond erful histor y that was intended to be a lesso n to all peoples of subsequent tim e, they met with oppos ition , and it was necessa ry for them to go fo rth into battl e. T hey went into thi s wa r with the Amalekite s t ru stin g in God as th eir leade r and director . The hands of Moses were reached forth toward the heave ns, arid as long as he could reach to­ wa rd God fo r help th e arm ies of Israel were success ful. :\ aron and H ur held up his hand s when hi s physical powe rs were weak , in orde r that Israel might continu e to prevail. 1\malek was routed. A great victory was won. A proud and powerful nat ion were rebuk ed because they arose up aga inst the peop le of God. "And Mos es builded an altar and called th e nam e of it J ehovah- Nissi"-T he Lo rd my banner. And thus we hav e an added concept ion of the 168 Abilen e Christian College Lechtres. bene volence and protecti ng care of God. Tho se who wage war will always be successful if they enter it by the author ­ ity of God. H e has never lost a battle for those who fight 1111der his instru ction. One man can chase a thousand, and ten men can put ten thousand to flight , if their battl e is waged with the Lord as their banner. Victory is deter­ mined by the God of heav en, and in the great spiritual con­ flicts it i"s equall y true that he will ·win who fights und er th e instruction and leadership of God and of Christ, the great captain of our salvation. 'vVe may say triumphantly with Paul , '·W e are more than conquerers through him that loved us." In the days of the Judg es we find an added conception of God, aptl y illustrating thi s subject. Moses, Joshua and the early leader s of l srael in Canaan, had long since passed from the earth. Israeli was hard pressed by their enemies. \i\Then they sowed their fields the hostile nations about them reaped their abundant harve sts . Midian and Amalek went forth aginst them with powerful armies. Gideon, a mighty man among the oppre ssed Hebrew s, arose. Israel rallied to his standard , and accepted him as their leader. He looked to God as the only hope for bringing peace to the disturbed land. Gideon erect ed an altar and called the name of it J ehovah-Shalom-Jehovah , a God of peace-a most satisfy­ ing conception of God's power and protection . \i\Tho can bring peace to a disturbed nation except through the direc­ tion of our God? He is the God of peace. In our day when the fuller light of the gospel shines forth in the hearts of all men , we are, or at least should be, more confident than any other people who have lived since the world began , in the sublime and consoling truth that God is a God of peace. The angle s on Judean hills, who announced the birth of the Messiah, issued the proclamation : "Peace on earth, good will to men ." The Christ is pre-eminent.l ,y the Prince of peace, and he has given distinction to this gratifying concep­ tion of God in the beatitude, " Blessed are the peace-makers , for they shall be called the children of God." Our God is assuredly the God of peace ; and if we would have peace, the peace that passeth all understanding , the peace that is God Reveal ed. 169

secure and abiding , we must be led to that peace through trust in God. Scanning the further revelation of the divine attrib ut es, we note that Ezekiel , in the closing part of his prophecy, pictures to us the beauty, spJ.endor , and excellence of the city of God. Th e culmination of his description is recorded in the last verse of his remarkabl e prophecy , "T he name of the city, from that day shall be Jehovah- Shammah-Th e Lord is there. " Thi s brings to man the assurance and th e blessedness of the divine presence. John saw the new J eru­ salem, the city of God, and pictured the happin ess of re­ deemed spirit s. He dr ew attention to that which was and is a most consoling hope. "T he thron e of God and of th e Lamb was there , and his servant s shall serve him , and the y shall see his face. and his nam e shall be in their for eheads ." The Jew s had a meage r conception of the dwelling place of God. The y thought that he was at J eru salem, that he abode in the temple , and that th ey mu st worship him there , because this much the y had received as suitabl e information for them in that age of the wor ld. The wo1nan of · Samaria declared that the Samaritan s believed that the y ought to worship in the mountain , and the Jews thought men ought to worship at Jeru salem, but the Saviour disclosed to her and to all mankind . th e wonderful kno wledge that God will hear and recei ve the adorations of men at any point of the globe where man may live. Referring to th e prophecy of Isaiah (7: 14), we hav e one of tho se strang e predictions mad e in refer ence to the coming of the Messiah. and his new name-Immanuel-God with us. It is one of the pr e-eminent distinctions of th e fuller revelation as set forth in the new covenant, that Goel is omni­ present. O f a truth God is everyw here. W herever man is found toda y, who has received the Bible , he ha s likewise re­ ceived the knowl edge that God may be worshipp ed at any place . He spea ks to God with the confident assurance that ~od will hear him on land , on sea. in the desert , in the fer­ ti le fields, or in the populous cities . And it is certainly a consoling and glorious truth that God is present everywh.ere to hear the cries of tho se who trust in him. God is an ever- 170 Abilene Christian College Lectures. present God , a very present help in time of need. . Th ere remain s the most import ant conception of deity, and this was likewise deferred as a revelation to be a dis­ tinct peculiarity of the gospe l age. Man had sinned and th e fiat of God had gone forth , "T he soul that sinn etl, it shall die." No limit·at ion was made . A sma ll sin or a great sin was sufficient to result in the utt er condemnat ion of th e l111man ra ce.. \,\/hen all had sinned and come shor t of th e glory of God. it becam e necessa ry that some prov ision be made fo r man's life, otherwise the entir e race of responsible beings would be forever lost. God 's prophet , J ererniah . gave the promise (C h . 23 :6 : 33 :16) that in the glorious age that was to come . his name would be called Jehovah­ Tsiclkeneu - the Lord our righteousness. "\,\Then our sin and pollutions had become such that it was imposs ible for our right eousness to bring us to a position of acceptanc e with him. he became himself , our right eou sness . Chri st died for the race. he became a propitiation for the sins of th e whole world. Through him was atonement mad e for sin. He was without guile, entirely without sin. and this ideal sinless­ ness ha s been vouchsafed to us throu g-h an acceptance of the atonement made for our sins. and thus we have Chri st as the Son of God. and th e burden-b ear er for us. H e took our sins a way in becoming right eousness fo r us. "\,\Te live in the most favored age of the wor ld. All the divine attribute s that have grad ually been revea ed to the world, are now known to us. Goel was kn own to the first inhabitan ts of th e world as th e E lohim. and that set fort h the infinite dignity and loftin ess and hnliness of his nat ur e. Later he was revealed as El-Sh aclclai. th e A lmie-hty : then as Jehovah-Jir eh, the great Provid er: Jehovah-Nis si. the God of batt les- the one to whom all men mu st look. and und er whose instruction s they mu st fight i'f they will win the victor y in batt le; J ehovah,Shalem . th e Goel o·f peace. the one to whom we can look. and whose orders we must abide, if we would achieve and enj oy peac e; Jehovah -Shammah, and Jrnmanuel, which te rm signif y to us the presence of God , his remaining with us. and the possibilit y of approach to him everywhere-t he Lord is omni-present; J ehovah-Tsid- God Rev ealed. 171 keneu, the Lord our righteou sness, the one who has borne our griefs. ha s received our stripes, ha s suffered for us. Thus far has the divine nature been revealed to man, and and we are prepa red to recei ve the t riumphant announce ­ ment made by Paul in his Jetter to th e Colossians: "C hri sf is all and in all." He is everywhere , and is everyt hing to us. Our relations to him may be susta ined by abiding in him (J no. 15 :3). We may feel, his presence , enj oy his so­ ciety , grow in his grace , and be made happ ier and richer through the se graciou s expe riences of the divine benefaction. T his much is essenti al for this lif e and the age in which we Ii ve, and is sufficient for our present happine ss, and our hope for the future; and the ultimat e consumation of his revelati on to us will finally be realized when we shall hav e passed the confines of time and landed on th e etern al shore s where we shall see him as he is, an d know as we are known.

F. B. SHE PH ERD Missions . 175

"M I SS ION S." BY F. B. SHEPI-IERD . There are two great , per sonal, heart-searching questions that have confronted man in all ages , upon the answers to which hinges his eternal destiny; i. e., "\i\There art thou? " "Where is thy brother?" " H'here art thou ?" is a tremendous question and one vital in every walk of life , to which God and man .demand an answer. He who has no strong conviction s of his own upon which he entertains no doubt is a spineless member of soci­ ety. To the profe ssed Christian the question, " Where art thou ?" on the vital dogmas of the Church-Faith, Repent­ ance , Confession, Bapti sm, The Supper, Discipline, MIS­ SIONS-is a test of his integrity . Do you believe the mis­ sion of the Church is the grandest mission man has ever had or will ever know? Is thi s an all-absorbing faith or a mere tacit acknowledgement ? "Where is thy Brother ?" In Roman s 1 :14 Paul ex­ presses the true philosophy of life-debtors to others. Service was the crowning glory of the life of Christ , the out standing feature of the Apostles' ministry, and should be the motto and slogan of the church to-day. It includes all that is high­ est, noblest, and best in life . The Christ life, the great ideal for man, was the embodiment of unselfishness sympathy, service ( Phil. 2 :5-8) ; so now the Christian who is simply conserving a creed, and is not exemplifying the life of the Christ, is a blight upon the Vine . The fact that the standard of greatness in the Kingdom is service ( Mark 10 :42-54) ought to make us appreciate that:- A crucial test of the scripturalness of a church is as much its WORK as its WORSHIP. It is not merely what we know but what we do and are; an attitude of mere tacit acknowledgement that "Jesus is Lord" falls short of the divine requirement (John 12 :42). The church of Christ must be something more than a mere assembly , It should be the expression of the life He lived, and which He left us to exemplify ; it should be an aggressive force. Being en- '!76 Jtbilen.e 'hris'tian Coftege l,ed ure~. tru sted with th e " \Vord o f Reconciliat ion" (2 Cor. 5 :18), and constit uted, -as it is. th e only instituti on thro ugh wh ich the Spirit is to propaga te th e " Pow er of God'' lo the sa l a­ lion of a lost world (E ph. 3 :20) , its right to he te rmed ''Chri stian" or ·'O f Chri st" depends upon its being th e ex -· ponent of H im who gave H is life that we might Jive. vVhen we behold the "La mb of God ," "T he L ion of the T ribe of Jud ah," we must be imp ressed with his un tirin g energy and all-abso rbing zeal durin g t he thr ee and a half years of his personal ministry and mu st strive to emulate it. VVith the early chur ch, membership in the body was not a mat ter of mere fo rmal creed, but of conscious, living uni on with the F ount ain H ead ; so its phenomina l growt h resulted as mu ch fro m th e implicitness of its t ru st, th e ferv ency and devotion of its obedience, and the vehemence with which it t·old the simple story, as fr om th e orthodox y of its th eology. <) ne thin g it learn ed, which we to-day seem slow to grasp , was that Chri st commissioned th em, not to convert the world , but to "preach the Gospel to eve ry creatur e." Ha d the subt erfu ge resorted to by stingy ones to- day, "W e need lo convert th e heath en at home befo re going abro ad" been offered by the apo ~tles, the K ingdom of the Lo rd J esus 11·ould never have reached beyon d the confines of Pa lestin e, and we of the western hemisphere would still be in the da rk­ ness of paganism. T hat there is an urgent need for a definite policy f or the doing of Missi o11ary Wor k at hom e and abroad is self ev-i­ d r 11tin view : ( 1) O f the spread of fa lsehood in religious thin gs. (2) Of our high ·c1airns to apo stolicity, which make it incumbent upon us to evangelize to the utt ermost parts of the earth. (3) O f the facts that the salvation of men dep ends upon their accepta nce of the Gospel, and our salvation de­ pend s largely upon the effort we make to preach it fully. T here are 900,000,000 heath ens in the world while we have but nin e American mi ssionaries in fo reign fields. O f the somethin g like 9,000 church es of Chri st in America, fewer than 100 give regularly and fewer than 500 give any- 177

thing for th e spread of th e primiti ve teachin g beyond th.eir own bord ers. Th ese 9,000 chur ches with a member ship esti­ mated at half mi.Ilion give abont $7,000 a year for such work , which amount s to th e munific ent sum of one and t wo­ fifth s cents per capita per year. Certainly thi s fa ct in itself is a rath er insignificant argument again st the work of th e F . M. Societies, etc. Hence the question s, "I-1ow shall we clo.'i"' What shall we clo ?" ar e poignant. Undoubtedly, the local congregation is the one Goel or ­ dained missionary society to send evangelists into all parts of the earth preaching the Gospel to every creature. W e ha vc seen the failure of self-appointed missionaries amenable to • no one, dependent for financial support upon no one in par­ ticular , but the brotherhood in genera.I. For years one man has devoted himself to an almost fruitless effort to find men with the qualifications who are willing to go overseas to th e work , and then to get their support assured . Ther e is little more apostolic precedent for either course than for the "F. M. S.," and with less practical results. \A.There,then , shall we turn? What provision has the divine mind made to meet the need? The greatest missionary in the Christian dispen­ sation, the Apostle Paul, was SENT by the church at An ­ tioch to the work. In this case (Acts 13 :2) the Holy Spirit was directly responsible for the selection of the men who should go, but the church was made the agent to do the send­ ing a11d the board to which the missionaries were subject (Acts 14:26 , 27). Were such a course followed to-d ay and missionaries SENT by local bodies , those bodies would hav e a definite missionary policy; and, if one church was not strong enough itself to support a man, it would solicit help for him. Its local evangelist would preach definitely and specifically about some "Mission" rather than for "Mis sions " in a general vague, unsystemmatic way. Shall the church in the aggregate send missionaries? If so, it needs some official board and the Bible makes rio provi sion for such. Is it not the God-ordained appointment of the local institution? This course would also remove the possibility of unscriptural institutions growing out of a combination of churches to support one man, and a missionary thus sent would be under 178 Abilene Christian College Lectures.

the over-sight of the cong regation sending . Such a dis­ uraceful cond ition as we now ha ,·e in India would be eas ily dealt with, for some congr egat ion would have juri sdiction ove r the men and could recall them fo r trial , passing on the case and dealing with the guilty as the New Te stam ent pre­ scribes, rathe r than merely withholding financial support until an investigation can be made by nobody know s who . Reason itself dema nd s that workers in India, Japan , or Afric a be und er the over-sight of a congregation as much as a worker in th e U. S. Then, aga in, what hav e we in the way of organized church es in the se foreign fields? Did not tJ1e apostles or- ganize local congregations , appointing elders in every • church? (Acts 14 :23 ) teaching th em to become ind ependent local bodies from which should go out other missionaries to estab lish other congregations? Are we in this country to carry one, two, or a dozen native congregation s indefinitely? Is it possible th ey will never become self- supporting , not to say mi ssionary ? If it is true , as has been demonstrated, that the best way to assis t our own foreign element is to teach and enco ura ge them to help th emselves, will not the same plan work successfull y abroad? The Presbyterian Church in England has for yea rs been syste matic ally with­ drawing part of its financial support from certain African missions, and those missions hav e automatically assumed the responsibility. Such a system would conduc e to the growth and ultimat e independ ence of some mission points and would relea se funds and men for work elsewhere until we should establish the primitive Gospel in every corner of the globe. In conclusion let me urg e that we throw off our spiritual neurosis , and , in view of our uniqu e position in the religiou s world with no man-made theories to propagate, ecclesiastical system to protect , or human creed to adhere to, of the scrip­ tures in the freedom , let us get a vision of "Great er things for God" in a syste mmatic way. Let us become a people of leader s and boosters , not ju st hind erer s and knockers. Too long have we practiced iconoclasm instea d of being propa­ gandists. What we .need is to be pro-gressive (Phil. 3 :13) Missions. 179 that we may expose the un scripturalness of di-g ression ; an d, if thi s is to be, we mu st first of all get an all-con sumin g love fo r Christ burning in our heart s, which is the only true in­ centi ve to service. Let us see the million s of ea rth. weak. erring , driven to and fro by wind s of adversity and false teaching , "sheep without a shepherd ," and remembe r th e depth and quality of our love for Christ can be exp ressed only in the att itude we susta in towards th e salvat ion of men . "Lovest thou Me more than these?" Then reach out afte r the ones for whom He died . T here is hop e for the man who possesses a consuming desire to honor God, no matter how fa r wrong he may be, but the case of the indiff erent is almost hopeless. Let us show a more exce llent way.

Who Wrote the Bible? 183

wr -TO WRO TE THE BTBl,E? BY G. DALLA S SM IT H . Some one has said, "I know that no man made the rose or painted the heaven s, for no man can do such a thing. " So we know that no man, nor set of men, unaided by a higher power, wrote the Bible, for men cannot write such a book. Mr. Bryan has challenged the scoffers and• infidel s who say the Bible was written by men to produc e such a book as proof that men could write a Bible. But the chal­ lenge has never been accepted. Mr. Bryan insists that if men two thousand or three thousand years ago could writ e the Bible, surely men of today, whose adtvantages are far greater, ought to be able to produce a Bible. Still they make no attempt to do it, and thus they stand self-con ­ dc111ned. Th e writers of the Bible al"e stri ctly in a class to themselves , writing as no other men ever have written . The se men were able to look into th e future and to write about things hundreds , and even thousands of years befor e they came to pass. No other set of men have been able to do such a thing. Henc e, I repeat they are, as writers , in a class to themselves. Other men have been able to guess as to what the futur e would bring, but their guesses have been wild and wide of the mark. The great world war has served to show how mere men guess as to future events. It has proven a man y a man to be a fal se profit. For instance , before the war , it was freely predicted that there would never be any more wars-none of any consequence, at least. We wer e led to believe that culture and refinement had driven war far from us, and we could but be amazed at the stupidity of the ancients, and even at our forefather s, for settling their troubles at the point of the sword . But our eyes have been opened-ou r dream has end ed; for from the ver y hot-bed of · educati on, culture and refinement came the outbur st of the awful wai-. Men who predicted ther e would, never be any mor e war ju st did not know . They were guessing, that is all. And after the war had begun , it was confidently predicted that it would not last more than ? year ; that prob­ ahly si,i· nionths 1v•oitld see the end of it. But somehow it 184- Abi lene Chris tian College Lec tures. was drawn out over a period of four long yea rs and mor e. thu s proving these men to be only fa lse pr ophets. And whil e th e Germans were continu ally harass ing and insult ­ ing thi s gov ernm ent , sinking ship s and murd ering American s it was everywh ere predi cted that German y was seeking to get us int o the war that she might th ro w up her han ds and declare she could not fight th e whole world . And while thi s sounded plau sible, the event s that fo llowed our entranc e into the war proved thi s pr ediction to be without foun­ dation .in fact . Th ese men were ju st wildly guess ing. th ey di

been a fruitful theme for would-be prophets, notwithstand­ ing Jesus declar es that no man knows the day nor the hour . About a thousand years ago, men began to predict that Je sus would come again in the year 1000. All Europe be­ came excited , and many pilgrimages were made to Jerusalem and the Holy Land fr om all parts of the country. The se pilgrimages finally led to the Crusades-"the war of the cross," which was an effort to rescue Jeru salem and the Holy Land from the infidel Moslems . But the year 1000 came and passed away, and almost anoth er thou sand years have pas sed since then, and still Jesus has not mad e his second advent . Hence all these men have been proven to be only false proph ets, having missed the date almost a thoitsand years. But men still continued to guess. About the year 1831, \IVilliam Miller, the founder of Second Adv entism, began to predict that the Lord would! come in the year 1843. He had carefully figured it all out, and was quite sure of it, since figure s do not lie. Well, the year 1843 rolled around and was about to pass without seeing the coming of th e Lord , and something had to be drone to save the reputation of the prop het. So Mr. Miller hurri edly revised his figur es and discovered that he had made a mistake of one year; whereupon he announc ed that Je sus would come the nex t year , in the year 1844, and his delud ed followers believed it, of cour se. But that year passed away too, and some seventy-five more years have passed, and still Jesus has not made his second advent . And the strange thing about it all is thiat the doctrine of Second Adventism still lives-­ that men still continue to guess about when Christ will make his second advent to thi s earth . A score of years ago, or more , Charles T . Russell of Milennial Dawn fame, announced that in the vear 1914 the Milennium would be ushered in, with all its ' attendant blessings- including an opport unity for all who had not had at least a fai r chance , to be saved. According to Mr. Russel1 Abraham, Isaac and Ja cob, withi oth er Old Testament wor­ thi es, were to come back to this earth and live here among 1h F: newly resurr ected peoples as mod els for all to follow . Th e dead " ·ere to begin to rise, the last to die to be raised first, and this was to continu e until all the dead were bro ught 186 Abilene Christian College Lectures.

back to earth. Every man was to live at least one hundred years, and if he showed proper signs of improvement, he might live throughout this one thousand years. And re­ member, all this was to begin in 1914. Well, what happened in 1914? Was there anything to suggest that the Millenium was dawning? Did the dead begin to rise? Did Abraham Isaac, Jacob and others come back to this old earth to serve as models for mankind? Has there been anv indi­ cation that men from then on would live a hundr el years , and possibly some a thousand years? Have any of these things come to pass? Has there been anything to suggest that the time of the Millenium is here-a time when the whole earth is to be filled with the glory of the Lord, and peace, like a river, should flow on forever? Has there been anything like this for the past four years? All this was to begin, according to Mr. Russell, in 1914. But what happened in 1914? Well, as everybody knows, in the very year Mr. Russell designated as the beginning of this gloriou s Millenium - even in the year I9I4 the greatest war that has ever cursedl this old earth was ushered in. And for four long years the world was subjected to such horrors as were never witnessed before. Instead of the dead rising, it began to look as though the nation were going to be buried, millions of people dying of disease, starvation and the ravages of war. And in the face of all this, it is strange that the followers of Russell are still Russellites. But such is man. And now in striking contrast to these wou ld-be prophet s and their wild guesses, let me invit e your atten tion to som.e real prophets and to some predictions that were true , and which have come to pass. While time has proven the afore mentioned men to be false prophets, time has proven the prophets of the Bible to be inspired and worthy of our con­ fidence. The apostle Peter, referring to Bible prophecie s says, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man , but holy rnen spake fr om God, being mov ed by the Holy SpiriL." ( 2 Pe t. l :21). A nd the followin g exampl es which 11·e now introdu ce attest the truthfulnes s of this declaration . A fter the ·-city of Jericho had been taken by the Israelites in the long ago, Jo shua utt ered a prophecy resp ecting the rebuildin g Who Wrote the Bible? 187

· of the city . He said: "Curs·ed be the man before Jeh ovah that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; with the loss of liis first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof , and with the loss of his youngest ·son shall he set up the gates of it." (Josh . 6 :26). For man y yea rs the city of Jericho lay in ruin s. It was some five hundred years before any one undertook to rebuild it, but finally a man by the name of Hie! rose up to rebuild it and the Record says, "He laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his first born , and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub , ac­ cording to the word of Jehovah which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. ( I Kings 16 :34). But how did Jo shua know this hundr eds of yea rs before it happened? The answer is found in the language of Peter, "No prophecy ever came by the will of man , but holy men spak&i from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." As a mer e man , the fu­ ture was as dark to Jo shua as it was to Voltai re , Jeffer son. Miller or Russell. But the Spirit of the Lord enlightened him- he spalu as the Spirit n,ioved him . Jo shua is one of the men who wrote the Bible; hen ce it is worthy of our ac­ ceptan ce. Again , just before the death of Joshua. he calle

matter of history that just seventy years from the time the se Jews became subjects of Babylon they began their return to the "Promised Land." And it was ju st seventy year s from the time N ebuchadnezzer destroyed the temple until Zerubbabel and others rebuilt it. But how did Jer emiah know this in advance? Well, he was another man who "spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." And he is another writer of the Bible. So I repeat, the Bible is worthy of our acceptation . And it happened about the time the "seventy year~" of Jeremiah's prophecy was fulfilled that Cyrus the Great, who evidently knew little or nothing of the God of the Jews, came to the throne of Babylon. And th e Lord having stirred up his heart, he made a decree allow­ ing the Jews to return just . in time to fulfill Jeremiah' s prophecy . Now , a very interesting question arises here, namely, how did Jehovah stir up the heart of this wicked and heathen king? We do not know , to be sure, just how it was done; but there is a strong probability that it was ac­ complished th.rough the fulfillment of phophecy. About two hundred years before Cyrus came to the throne of Baby­ lon, Isaiah had uttered quite a strange prophecy in which Cyrus is referred to by nam e as the Lord's "shepherd," as his "anointed." Isaiah said Cyrus should fulfill all the Lord's pleasure, ·and that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, sug­ gesting that Cyrus should hav e a hand in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Isaiah further stated that Cyrus' name was there used that he might know that Jeho vah is God. (Isa. 44 :24 to 45 :6.) Now when Cyrus came to the throne Daniel was the foremost man in the kingdom , and he knew by th.e prophecies that it was time for the Jew s to return-that the seventy years had be1m fulfilled. So the most natural thing at all would be for ·him to pres ent Cyrus with a copy of the prophecy, which was then two hundred years old, where his name was used in connection with the rebuilding , of Jerusalem, and• where he had been called the Lord' s "shepherd" and his "anointed ." This would , no doubt, ha.ve stirred Cyrus' heart thoroughly , and thi s is the way it may have been done . We do not know . But how did Isaiah know more than one hundred and fifty years before he was born that there would ever be such a man as Cyrus ? 190 Abi lene Christian College Lectures .

How did he know that he would in any sense he Cod· ~ shepherd to care fo r his peop le ? nd how did he kn ow he wou ld be the Lo rd' s anointed to rebuild J eru salem ? There is but one answe r. He "Spake fro m God, being moved by the H oly Spirit." Such men as I saiah wrote the Bible, and it is thu s prov en to be inspired . W'hen the kingdom of Israel divided and, J ereboam set up his golden calf and his altar of incense at Beth el, the Lord sent a messenger out of Jud ea unto Bethel that he might speak against J ere boam's altar . T'h.is man of God, for his name is not given, said, among other thing s, as he stood befo re Je reboam's altar, "a child shall be born in the house of David , Jo siah by name, and he shall burn the prie st's bones on this altar." ( I K ings 13; 1,2. We ll, some thr ee hundr ed years afte r this th ere wa s a child born in the hou se of Da vid- in the lineage of David, and they called him Josiah . Thi s child became king when he was only eight year s old, and wh en he was hardl y grown he began his reformations in J erusalem and Judea. And after thi s he proceeded with his servants to Bethel and standing be­ foi:e Jereboam' s old altar he asked, "Whose are the se sepnl­ chers ?" Being told that they contained the bones of th e priests who burned incens e on th e altar , he sent hjs ser vants to bring the bones of the priests , and they burn ed th em on that altar, according to the words of the Man of God. who had predicted it mor e than three hundr ed year s befor e. But how did this man of God know it mor e than thr ee hundr ed year s before it happen ed? How did he kno\\' that there would be a child born of the lineage of David who ~hould be named Jo siah ? And how did he know th qt J osiah would burn thes e priests' bones on that altar ? Ev ident! y this man , also, spake from God, being moved by th e Ho ly Spirit." And , I rep eat, this is the kind of men who wrote th e Bible. Hence they are in a class 10 th emselve . and the Bible is, therefor e, in a class to •itself. Many years ago there sat four leper s at the gat e of an ancient city, The city had been under siege for man y days by the Syrian arm y until famine conditions prevai led ; and women reduced to star vation , were cooking and eating the ir own childr en. Eli sha, th e man of God, lived in that city Who W rot e the Bible ? 191 and he uttered a wond erful prophecy . He predi cted that in twent y-four hour s th e fa min e would be over and food plentiful in the city. I t was so unr easo nable th at the cap­ tain of the king 's host declared that if Jehovah should open the windows of heave n to give them food, t·hat it could not become plentiful in twenty-four hour s. Elisha th en rep eated his prediction , and said furthermore that thi s captain should see it, but because he had doubted he should not be allow ed to partake of the plent y. The four leper s who sat at the gate of that city began to reason as to what should be their end . They reasoned thu s : "If we sit here we will die; if we go into the city the famine is there and we shall perish; let us turn unto the Syrians, and if they save us alive we shall live, but if they kill us we shall but die." So they turned their faces toward the camp of the Syrian army, perhaps with many doubts and fears and with many mis­ givings as to what the outcome should be. But to their delightful surprise wh en they reach ed th e Syrian camp they found it intact, but deserted. The Lord had caused the se Syrian s to hear the sound of a mighty army coming upon them, and they had fled, leaving great quantities , of provi­ sions. Th ese leper s fea sted them selves, and then return ed to the city and repo rt ed th eir find. So the people of Sa­ maria went out to thi s desert ed camp and brought in pro­ visions in gr eat abundance, and the famine wa s over. And t·he captain of the king 's host was standing at the gate when the people returned , bringing in gr eat stor es of food, and in some way he was kno cked down an d th e people trod upon him and he died. So Elisha's prophecy was fulfill ed to the letter. The famine was ended in the twenty-four hour s according to his words, and the captain who doubted his words was permitted to see th e great plenty, but was not allowed to eat of it. ( See II King s 6 and 7.) But how did Eli sha know the day befo re what was going to happ en ? Well, this wa s th e Lord's message- not Elisha's. So with the many messages in the Old Book. The whole Bible is a message from Goel-not from men. The writers of th e Bible "S pake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit. " Great men have their histories written after they are dead and gone ; but J esus' lif e work was written in mar- 192 Abile11e Christian College Lectures .

velous detail long befo re he wa s born . Let us notice a few thing s which were said about him befo re he came into thi s world. Isaiah, some eight hun dred yea rs befo re hi s bir th. predict ed one of the most unr easo nable and abs urd thing ~ about him imaginabl e ; and no doubt , the scoffe rs ridi culed him for predicting such a thing . Isaiah boldly declar ed that the Messiah should be born of a virgin , a thing neve r heard of befor e. But in clue cour se of time the seemingl y impo ssible wa s accompli shed when the virgin Ma ry becam e the moth er of J esus. Some seven hundred yea rs before th e birth of J esus, M icah declared he should be born in the littl e. insignificant village of Bet hlehem. But even after Mar y had been designated as the favored woman , still th ere seemed little probability that the child would be born in Bethlehem, since Jo seph and Mary lived at Nazareth, some­ thing like one hundr ed mil es north of Bethlehem. But in clue time there went out a decree from Augustus Ccesar which brought Mary and Jo seph to Bethlehem, where th e child of dest iny wa s born, in fulfillment of Micah's words. I saiah some eight hundr ed yea rs before Je sus came into th e world, very graphi cally describe s some thing s connected with his trial s and cru cifixio n. He describ es him as being " like a lamb dumb befo re his shea rers, that he opened not his mouth ." Thi s wa s fulfill ed in his condu ct before Pilat e when, in answer to his que stion s, he answered him neve r a word. Isa iah said he would be " rejec ted and afflicted," all of which wa s litera lly fulfill ed by the Jews reject ing him and allowing him to be afflicted in many way s. I saiah sa id furth er that "his judgm ent should be taken away." Thi s was fulfill ed in that , ,vhil e P ilate said ove r and ove r " I find no fa ult in him. " still th ey ove r-rid e thi s judgm ent and kill him as though he had been guilt y. Aga in, Isaiah sa id he should be "numb ered with tran sgre ssors." Thi s was ful ­ filled when he hung on the cross betw een two transgre ssor s. as a third transgre ssor- On the cross he cried, "My God , my God, why hast thou fo rsaken me?" in fulfillm ent of David' s word s utt ered a ·thou sand yea rs befor e. And clown at the foot of th e cross are the soldiers dividing his cloth es among themselves and gambling for his coat that was made without a seam fr om top to bottom- all in fulfillm ent of fl! ho TVrofe the Bibler 193 the proph ecy \\'hich says . "Th ey parle d my garm ent s and cast lots for my vestur e." Wh en the soldiers who had been sent to break the legs of the thr ee reached J esus, he wa s already dead . and they brak e none of. his bone s, in fulfill­ ment o[ an old prophe cy which said nol a bone of his body should be brok en. But these soldiers, for some reaso ns, thru st a spea r into his side in fulfillm ent of the prop hecy \\'hich says, "Th ey shall look on him whom they; pierced." J oseph of A rim;ethea wa s a rich man. He and N icode mu s came in boldly unto Pi late and as ked for and obtain ed the body of Jesus, and they buried it in Jo seph' s own new tomb , and thu s was fulfill ed the proph ecy that he "s hall make hi s g-i·ave with th e rich. " J esus, on the thi rd day after his cru­ cifix ion, rose fr om the dead in fulfillment of Da vid's proph ­ ecy that "His sou l should not be left in Hades, neither should his body see corrupti on." And prob ably the P salm ­ ist refers to his glorious ascension when he breaks forth exult antly , "Lift up your head s, 0 ye gates, and be ye lift ed up, ye eve rla sting door s, and the king of glory shall come in." No w, how did th ese men know so many thing s about the sto ry of Je sus so man y years befo re he lived ? \Ve answe r once more in the language of th e apost le Pete r, "N o proph ecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men spake fro m God. being moved by the Holy Sp irit." And while these are only a few of the many prophecie s which hav e been fulfill ed, these will serve to show, as stated in the beginnin g. that the writ ers of the Bible are st rictly in a class to them selves. Tho se who have tak en the pains to count th em say there are some five hundr ed prophecies in the Old T estament which have been fulfill ed in the earthl y career of J esus as record ed in the New T estament. And th ese prop hecies cove r a period of fifte en hundred year s, from Moses to Malachi. Now, how were these men able to tell in such minut e detail the life sto ry of J esus so long before he came into thi s world ? W e answer once mor e that the secret of it is revea led in the language of the apos tle P eter, "No prophe cy ever came by th e will of man. but holy men spa ke from God. being moved by the Ho ly Spirit. " Five men stand here, eac h with ten arrow s in his quiver . T hey desire to shoot th ese arr o,vs at a target , but 194 .Al1ilc11e Christian College Lectures. they do not know just where the target is. nor how far away it is. Th e first man stands fifteen hundr ed yards away , as he afterwards learn s, and shoots his ten arrows out into the darkne ss of the night. The second man sta nds one thousand ya rds away, and sends his ten arrows out into the midnight darkness. Th e third man sta nds eight hundr ed yard s away , and shoots his ten arrows away into the inky blackness . The fourth man stands six hundr ed yards away. and the fifth man stand s four hundr ed yards awav- all of then,. sho oting into the dcwkness. They call for a light and find every one of those fifty arrow s in the bull's-eye-in the cen,ter of the target. This would be wonderful, indeed. But no more so than the fulfillm ent of the many prophe cies relating to Christ. For instanc e, Moses stands fifteen hun ­ dred yea rs away from Christ and sends forth his propheti c arr ows ; David stands one thou sand yea rs away from Chri st and sends out man y stri king prophetic arrow s; I saiah stands eight hundr ed yea rs away from Chri st and sends forth a numb er of prophetic arrow s; Daniel stand s six hundr ed yea rs away fr om Chri st and send s forth his prophetic ar ­ row s, and Malachi sta nds four hundred yea rs away fr om Chri st and sends out his phrophetic arrows. None of th ese men knew ju st how far away they were, and ju st where the ta rget was. But when the light of New Test ament revela­ tion is turned on we find all the se prophetic arrows cent ered in the lif e stor y of Jesus. But how did these men kno w so many things about Jesus, and so long before he came to this eart h ? We ll, these men "spake fr om God, being moved by the H oly Spirit." Hence I repeat, the writers of the Bible are in a class to themselves , and this places the B ible in a class to itself. Some one says, "'Ne ar e so accustomed to the sight of the Bible that it ceases to be a mir acle to us. It is printed just like other books, and so we forget that it is not just like other books; but there is nothing in the world like it or compa rable to it. The sun in the firmament is nothing compared to the Bible, if it be in reality what it assumes to be, an act ual. dir ect communication from God to man. Take up your Bible with this idea, and look at it, and won der at it. It is a treasure of unspeakable value to you, for it Who Wrote the Bible? 195 contains ' a special message of love and tender mercy from God to your soul. Read it in the secret of God's presence, and receive it as from his lips, an! feed upon it, and it will be to you, as it was to the prophets of old, the joy and the rejoicing of your heart."

BATSELL BAXTER Christian Education . 199

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. BY BA'l' SELL BAXTER. I appreciate the privilege of being in another meeting of preachers and other Christians to study about the things that will make us better and cause us to be more effective in the service of the Lord. And right here in the beginning I want to say a word to these preachers: Brethren, I think a worthy Gospel preacher is one of the noblest creatures of God. I am a teacher, but I preach every Lord's Day, and I come in contact with preachers all the time. Most of you have homes and yet you do not have homes; they are your homes, and yet you are denied the blessings and comforts of life in the midst of your families. You are for weeks at a time away off somewhere sowing the seed of the Kingdom, while your loved ones at home are struggling along without your presence and comfort and guidance. Just how you can stand it I don't know; and I am sure you could not stand it at all were it not for the faith you have in God, and the conviction that prompted Paul to say "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel. " May the Lord abundantly bless you in every good work, and may his rich­ ,est blessings rest upon those at home who most of the time must struggle along without you. Religion is a natural and necessary part of man 's char­ :acter, and there can be no genuine moral life without it. 'The child is not a lump of clay or wax to be passivel y molded; neith er is he a blank sheet of pap er upon which the teacher may write . He is a living acting organism full of energy and power, and this energy and power are daily growing into a cha.ract er with fixed habit s and beliefs. Edu­ cation mu st dir ect these thoughts and habits. It must build Christian manhood, form character, impart high ideals, and train for effective and righteous service . No education that leaves out the Bible and God and Christ can "do this. Other kinds of education can fill the memory and stimulate the ambition s, but only Christian education can guide the heart and brain alon~ the right path s of lif e. One atom of living 200 Abi lene Christian College Lectures.

faith is worth mor e than all of th e mere historical knowl­ edge that could be bro ught together; and one drop of true love and reverence for God is worth more th an a whole ocean of scientific learning . There is no genuine educati on without some connection with the religion of the Bible. An education exclusively in­ tellectual lead s to arrogance and a contempt for moral influ­ ence. I ha ve in mind a brilliant and learn ed man. He is an intellectual giant; his mind roams at will in th e high alti­ tudes of intell ectu al achievement, and he fills his students with awe and admiration at the wealth of his learning. His mind is keen and sharp ; but his moral sensibiliti es are blunt and dull . He knows nothing of the Bible; he cares littl e about God; and his thoughts are far above the problems of the welfare of his fellow-man. That man is a fa ilur e what­ ever he may attain in an intellectual )Vay-a failure because he is one- sided ; he has left God out. The Bible tells us about Samson, God's strong man . He once met a lion in th e way and ripped the jaw s of th e king of beasts; he wanted once to get out of th e city of Gaza when the gates were locked. He pulled up the gate s- posts and all-and carried them off up a high hill. But he had a weak and und eveloped character. He had littl e connection with the divine will. He was a failure. His enemie s feared his physical strength , but they scorned his weak character ,, He fell because he was a one-sided man. An educat ion ex­ clusively physic al leads to anim alism. An educat ion exclu­ sively moral leads to bigotry and P hari seeism. Don't you remember that P hari see who went up into the temple to pray and tell th e Lord what a good fellow he was and how proud th e Lord ought to be of him ? And don 't you remember that the Lord was better plea sed with the poor public an who knew he wa s a sinn er and mad e a clean breast of it all? That Phari see was a moral man ; that is about alJ. you can say for him . He certainl y lacked everyt hin g pertaining to th e spi r­ itual side. He was a failure . No man can attain the high est life, and do the goo d that h~ ougl_1tto do \Vithout religious instru ction to go right along with his other mstruction. That religious instru ction mu st Christian Education . 201

not be a kind of A MAKESHIFT, A KIND OF SOME­ THING TACKED ON TO THE REST OF THE COURSE, TREATED AS A KIND OF NECESSARY NONSENSE, PUT IN SIMPLY TO SATISFY WHAT IS REGARDED BY THE INSTITUTION AS SUPER­ STITION AND IGNORANCE. THAT RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION MUST NOT BE BELITTLED AND HEDGED IN. IT MUST BE THE MAIN THING IN THE COURSE AND THE OTHER WORK MUST ALL BE BUILT AROUND IT AND BE A HELP TO IT AND NOT A HINDRANCE. THAT RELIGIOUS IN­ STRUCTION MUST BE IN AN INSTITUTION WHOSE VERY ATMOSPHERE IS PERVADED WITH THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHOSE TEACHERS BELIEVE THE BIBLE AND PRACTICE ITS PRECEPTS. Fire extinguishers are filled with carbon-dioxide. You can throw a stream of carbon dioxide into a room filled with fire and shut the door, and your fire is smothered out. Fire cannot burn in an at­ mosphere of carbon-dioxide. 'vVe expect students to go off to some big college which is filled with worldliness and tinctured with atheism with a little religious instruction on the side, and come back filled with the spir it of Christianity. We might as well expect a candle set down in a room filled with carbon-dioxide to keep on burning as to expect a stud­ ent to get any real str ength out of religiou s teaching in an institution whose very atmosphere chokes the religiou s spirit out of him and mocks his faith in God. I want us to remember that a great factor in moulding the destiny of the student is the teacher. Teachers are gen­ erally chosen in many schools for what they know and not for what they are. I believe that a teacher ought to know the subject that he is going to teach. He ought to know it as thoroughly as it is possible for him to know it. He ought to be able to impart it to others. But the teacher must be a strong character, and ABOVE ALL , HE MUST BE A CHR ISTIAN. The teacher has a tremendou.s responsi­ bility . His life mu st be a living example of Christianity. For his heart is in touch daily with the heart s of his student s 202 Abilene Christian College Lectures .

and he is moulding their destiny. His heart must be clean and pur e and filled with righteousness. Have you ever watched the littl e boy following along and trying to walk in the father's steps? Every father ha s seen it . Vv'hen you turn that boy over to some school to finish his education he picks out some teacher as his ideal , and he tries to walk in that teac her's steps just as he used to try to walk in your s. And he has all confidence in that teacher just as he used to have all confidence in you. He is dazzled by that teacher 's learning . He longs to get up on the intellectual height s where that teacher stand s. That teacher can tell him that the faith of his father is superstition and he will believe it; that teacher can tell him the Bible is a bundle of contradic­ tions , and he will think it must be so; that teacher can tell hirn there is no God, and the boy's faith will waiver and fail, and he will come back to you wrecked and ruined for eter­ nity. Or if that teacher is the right kind; if he is a strong Christian, he can send you back that boy stronger in faith and more diligent in God's service than when he went away. If I were sending a boy or girl to school, I would not only want to know about what the ideals of the school were; I would want to know what were the ideals of its teachers. I , would want to know that every teacher in that school wa s a Chri stian and that the influence every day was on the side of Christianity and not against it. I want to say right here that I am in favor of small col­ leges. Oh, I don't mean little schools of thirty or forty student s. I think the ideal school in point of numbers should contain not less than two hundred students and not more than three hundred. That is about all one faculty can do justice to. Mere bigness is paraded before our eyes until we have come to believe that bigness is everything. We see bignes s in industrial institutions, thousands of tools being turned out of this factory every day where the old fashioned blacbmith used to hammer out only one or two . But thos e old hammered tools have never been equaled for strength • and service. It rs alright to have big schoels with classes of fifty or a hundred each , in which the students are mere num­ ber s unknown to the teacher except as numbers ; thi s is Christian Education . 203

alright if we are just making machines out of them. But we are not doing that ; at least we don't intend that. \Ve want to build charact er; we want the classes to be sma ll enough so that the teacher can have time to talk heart-to-heart with each student once in a whi le. For character and individu­ ality, the records show that the big school s are far behind the littl e ones. Most of our great nien have come from col­ leges whose enrollment was small enough that the teach ers could come in personal touch with their students. I want us to notice our obligation toward the cause of Christian Education. The state provides free education. We pay for it whether we have children in the state schools or not. We may say "Education is no longer in our hand s." The state says "On religious matter s we are silent." So some of us are content to ju st let religious instruction drop . As Christians we must realize our obligations. We must. and we will continue to provide the right kind of education. As I look around me I see evidence that Christians have been sacr ificing for the proper training of boys and girl s. I don't know how much sacrifice it has cost men and women all over this country to put these buildings and this equip­ ment here; but I do know that if thi s school results in saving for God and for a life of usefulne ss and servic e to humanit v one boy or girl that would not otherwi se have been saved all this outlay of money and effort will have been well spent. A big estimate of the worth of one boy? NO ! Not if it is my boy, or your boy. I am confident that thi s institution and others like it have already been an eternal blessing to hund­ reds of boys and girls; and I hope and pray that its useful ­ ness has but begun . This work is a monum ent for good to every man and woman who has sacrificed in any way for it. ·w hen we die what we have given we tak e with us; what we have kept for ourselves we lose. Brother David Lipscomb left little or no property . He has no cost ly monument; yes he has; one of the grande st monuments a man could wish. There is the Nashville Bible School. It has been a bles sing to boys and girls for thirt y yea rs and its pro spect s a re brighter now than ever before . It is a lasting monum ent to 204 A/Jilc11cC hristia11Co llege Lectures. the memory of the man who gave thou sands of dollars that it might ex ist. I wonder how mu ch we who are young er and have reaped and are reaping the benefit of the sac rifice and love of other s app reciate it. Whe n Brot her T. B. Larimor e start ed over the mountain s of Tenne ssee from his moth er's humble cabin to attend a littl e college a few miles away that good mother fixed him a lunch and gave him her bles sings. When, about thr ee o'clock in the afternoon, he stoppe d in the cool shad e near a spring to eat , he found that the basket was filled with bett er food than his moth er had at hom e. As he bent over th e basket, tear s drop ped down upon th e food ; he folded th e cloth over it and started on his journey again. He was not hun gry; he could not eat. Many of you student s are wearing new clothe s while moth er or father have mended the old ones. Mother is wearing the old hat so that you girl s ma y ha ve a new one and not be embarassed . Oh! she rath er likes th e old hat anyhow. You under stand . Can you fail when parents have an intere st like that in you? The charge ha s sometime s been mad e that Christianity and education are opposed to each other. T he Catholic s in the Dark Ages wer e oppo sed to education for the common people. But God 's people have never been opposed to it. The more education of the right kind , the better. The Lord has alway s stood for educat ion, especially for religious edu­ cation . He ha s not shown special int ere st in having his people study mathemati cs and the sciences, but he has alway s mad e it plain that th e more th ey could learn about Him and His will the bett er He was pleased ." Away back yonder in the early clay Babylon had a system of education. It was effective. From a worldly standpoint it was great. But it left Goel out . So J ehovah took a man, Abraham, away out to hims elf and train ed him so that he could be the father of a people who would go to school to th e Lord and his prophet s. The order among th e J ews was "precept upon pr ecept, line upon line; here a little and there a little. " Moses was edu cated for forty years in the wilderness before Goel would hav e him lead Israel out of bondage. He edu­ cated the people in schools conduct ed specially for the pur- Ciiris/1(1}1Ed11ratioii. 205

pose. A{tei" the entr ance into Canaan the Jews carr ied the T en Commandme nts in a leather case on the wrist and nail ed them in a metal case upon the door of their houses. l.,ater. the teaching almo st stopped and we hear Jehovah saying through his prop het Hosea: "M y peop le are destroy ed for lack of knowledge . Because thou hast rejected kn owledge l have rejected thee" (Hosea 4:6) . Twenty yea rs later I saiah warned the people that their lack of knowledge would bring them into capt ivity. ( Isaiah 5 :13) : At one time there were the schools of the Pro phets-com muni ties with buildings set apa rt at Ramah, Bethel, Jericho, and Gilgal. where the you ng went to school to God's chosen teacher s. ] t was the prophets from these schools who repeatedl y warned Israel of apos tasy and turned th e peop le back con­ tinually into the right pat hs. Afte r the capt ivity, there wer e the synagog ues for teach ing the Law. Paul wa s educated at the feet of Gama liel in ju st such a school in J eru salem. At the age of twelve or thirteen years the boy was taken to one of these synagog ue schools and there began his work. 'Ne find our Lord, at the age of t.ve lve in the mid st of the teach­ ers, asking and answering questions. Thus we see t hat our Saviour him self partook of the educat ional tr aining that God had prov ided for hi s people. After the new dispensation began we find Pa ul teaching daily at Ep hesus in the school of Ty rannu s. He re was a school that opened its door s to the teaching of the Bible every day. And here was an in­ spired apostle taking advantage of it and the Holy Spirit in­ dor sing the work. And th e Scr iptur es domina ted the polic,· of that school. This arr angeme nt cont inued for two year s. And I want you to notice what the Holy Spirit says of th e effect, "A11Asia heard th e word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks... And a littl e furth er on ,ve are told of a further effect; "And not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought their books together andi burned them in the sight of all- so mightily grew the word of the Lord an d pr e­ vailed.' ' ( Act s 19: 10 and 19). That 's the way the Apo stle Pau l got rid of the wrong kind of education ; he just set the right kind right up by the side of it and kept hamm ering away until the victory was won and that whole region had 206 Abi lr11e Cliristia11 College Leclures. turn ed to th e Lo rd. Can ·l we do th e sam e thing toda v 0 ]Jrethr en, education counts, and coun ts heavy, in the work of the Lo rd. ·Here were tw elve apo stles, all inspir ed alike with the H oly Sp irit ; Pau l \\"as edu cated and th e others were not. VVhose inAuence has come dow n to us with the greate st fo rce today? \ \'ho wrote most of the New T estam ent ? \\'h o stood befo re kings and carri ed th e Gos pel int o th e st rong ­ holds of heat hen learning and spperstiti on. Pa ul. H e was not any better than the re st of the apo stles, but his ed uca­ tion enabled him to get into fields that they could not -touch. N ow , as then, the educated wo rld is against Chri stianity. N ow, as th en, edu cation is one of our greatest weapons with which to fight fa lse theories. I adm ire a man who fight s in th e open. Suppose th at an enemy invades our shor es and begins to devasta te the land . O ur forces are hastily organ ized and a terribl e batt le is fought. vVe dr ive th e invade r int o th e sea. \Ne go back home thinkin g he will neve r return. But secretly hi s agen ts slip in and poison the wate r in our we lls, poison th e food in our mark ets and on our tabl es. T he poison is not stro ng enough to kill grown men an d women, but it has its deadl y effec t upon the yo ung; upon our boys and girls. A physician is called to a home; a boy is dying. He sea rch es for the cause; he finds the poiso n in the foo d that the par ent has been giving that child . The enemy put it there. He finds the poison in the wate r the child drink s. There is no cur e. Not many yea rs ago Robert Owe n came to the se shores as th e champion of Infidelit y. He attac ked Chri stianit y as a mighty Goliath. \Nhen the ot hers had fled, A lexa nd er Campbe ll took his sling and stone and went out to meet the man who had defied th e armi es of Isra el. T here was a mighty stru ggle . At the encl of it the mi ghty Goliath sat with his head in his hand s and wept like a child whil e the Lord' s David drove home th e truth . The might y Owen wa s cru shed . He lef t these shore s and hi s th eory went with him . A ll religious peop le rejoi ced. But stea lthil y and tead­ ily the infidel has been poiso nin g our food and d,rink since that day . Not wat er and meat and bread , but th e food that goes int o our mind s and make s up our characte r! Th e Chri stian Ednca tion. 207

po1w n is not slrong enough to affect mu ch those of us who are rooled and gro und ed in the fa ith of Chri st. But it is dead ly to the young. A moth er comes to you or to me and says : "My boy is declining spiritu ally. H e has been off to school and he has no inte rest in the Lo rd's wor k any more." Yo u talk with him a littl e whi le and have to tell that mother. Yo ur boy is dieing. T here is 110 remedy fo r his conditi on but the Bible and he has already discredited that." Th en you begin to look fo r the poison, Yes, here it is: Flist orv : "T i1e first men had no histo ry. Th ey lived a savag e life. In thought and act they were brut elike; and in bra in power they were only a little above the beast about them ." (" In the image of God create d he him .") Historv: "The early Heb rew concepti on of the futur e life wa s borrow ed from the Babylonian s" Th e Story of th e Flood was taken from th e Baby lonian s." Ph ysiography: "T he earth was not create d ; it ,vas flung off in ribbon ­ like band s from the Sun. " (" In the beginnin g Goel create d th e H eave ns and the earth .") Zoo logy: "No one knows when and where life originate d on the earth. Many of the ancients believed that anima ls were create d by div ine prov idence, but thi s th eory of special creation is no longer accepte d. The first animals that existed on the earth consisted of a single cell. Th e complex animal s have evolved from these simpler for ms in some period in the wor ld's histor y. Ma n is no exception to the evolution ary proc ess but is closely allied to the anthropo id apes, and dloubtl ess arose fro m an ape -like ancestor. " vVhen I look int o the clear innocent blue eyes of my litt le boy and hear him say, "God is up in Heaven, Bad men killed J esus, J esus loves us. He wa nts us to be Good ;" I am filled with trembling at my respon sibilit y. I will give him over some day to other teachers to complete his training. l had rath er that some one sleal int o my home and tak'c his young life in its innoc ence and puri ty than that some ma n 208 Ab ilene Christian College Lectur es. deliberate ly- und er the cover of educat ion- wr eck his faith and damn his soul. Let us hold up the hand s of Chri stian men and keep them provid ed with eve ry poss ible means for teaching the full truth ab out Goel along with the secular educat ion. 'l'h e dest iny of our boys and girls demand s it. .Mys teries of the B-iblc. 211

M Y Sfl'ERIES OF 'l'HE BIBLE. BY G. DALLA S SMl'l'H. \tVhen I was a young man, ju st start ing out to, pr~ach, there were no mysterie s in the Bible to me! Some thmgs, inde ed, s·eemed to be mysterious- all becau se I cl'id not un­ derstand them! Of cour se, as soon as I could come to an unders.tanding of these things the mystery would all be sure to disapp ear. I had been taught that the Bib le is not a book of mysterie s- that it really contains no mysteries, and J had accepted it with out investigation or reason. But why did such an idea ever possess any one ? \tVell, perhaps, we wung to thi s ridiculous extr eme in an effort to refute the erro neous idea that conversion is a mystery. But, anyway , the Apo stle Pa ul say s, "\tVithout controversy great is the mystery of godline ss." He say s without controversy, with­ out question, witho ut doubt, the mystery of godliness is great. The re is no room for discussion, no ground for debate over the question of the greatness of this mystery. "\i\Tithout controversy great is the mystery of godliness ." But what is a mystery? It is something we cannot un­ derstand without further exp lanat ion or revelation. A my s­ tery is something hidde11, something we cannot fully grasp until further enlightened by exp lanation or revelation. The original signifie s somet hing that is inexp licable except to th e initiated - to those on the insi,de so to speak.. For insta nce. Pharaoh 's dream of the fat and the lean kine and the full and blasted ear s of corn was a myster y to· him; but Joseph being initiated , being inspired, was able to make known the significance of th e dream to Ph araoh. And so the hand ­ writing on the wall of the pa lace in Baby lon was a profound mystery to "Belshazzar and a tho usand of his lord s." But to Dani el who was initi ated , being inspir ed, its meaning was plain, and he readi ly made known to the king an d his associ­ ates the significance of the writing And the apost le John saw on the Isle of Patmo s what was to him , at the time, a gr eat myster y. He saw seven golden cand lestic ks, and in the midst of them he saw one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment clown to · the foot, and wearing a golden girdle. Hi s head wa s white as snow , and his eyes were as 212 A bilene Christia n College L ectur es. a flame of fire. · H is feet we re as br ass, in his right hand there were seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. whil e his coun tenance wa s as the sun shinin g in his strengt h. T his was a profun cl mystery to John. H e could not understand it ; he could not grasp its meanin g until the Spiri t fur ther enlightened him . So, I repea t, a mystery is something we can not und erstand-ca n not grasp, until fur ther enlight ened by explanation or revelat ion. But what is this great mys tery- the mystery of god li­ ness ? Fo rtun ately we arc not left to guess what this mys­ mystery is, fo r the apo stle pro ceeds to tell us. H e says, ''VVithout controver sy great is the mystery of god liness: God was manifest in the flesh, ju stified in th e Spirit , seen of angles, pr eached unto the Gentiles, believed on in th e wo rld , received up into glory." (I T im. 3 :13.)) In these six items there is mu ch mystery. But wherein lies the mystery ? It is largely in every item mentioned by the apost le. F irst , "Goel was mani fested in th e flesh," Goel is a spirit , and yet Paul say s he was manifested in the flesh. But how wa s Goel manifested in the flesh- mad e kno wn in the fiesh .'i' E vidently this refe rs to the incarnat ion of J esus, which is the mystery of all ages. J ohn says, "I n the beginnin g wa s the Wo rd , and th e \Vorel wa s with Goel, and the Wo rd was Goel * * * And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (A nd we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be­ gott en of the Fath er ) full of grace and truth ." (Jo hn 1 : 1-14.) So God, in th e person of J esus. was made flesh and dwelt among us, living in the flesh as a man. Ma ny years befor e J esus mad e his adve nt to th is earth, the prop het Isaiah declared that a virg in should conceive and brin g fo rth a child and that his name should be called "E mmanu el," and Matth ew inform s us that "E mm anu el" means "God with us." (M att. 1 :22,23.) So J esus was God manif est in th e flesh. He was "Go d with us." And now we can und er­ stand what J esus meant when he said to P hilip, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Fat her." Thi s is, indeed, th e mystery of all mysteries. \l've can not und erstand it- we can not gra sp its meaning, but we can accept it unr eservedly. Second , "He wa s justified in the Spiri t." T he Ho ly Spirit bor e witne ss to the fact that he wa s all he cla imed to Mysteries of tl,r Bib i~.

be- that he was God manif est in the flesh. For instance. al his bapt ism, the Spirit s:iid. "Thi s is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." At the tr ansfiguration the Spirit aga in say s, "T his is my beloved· Son in whom I am we ll pleased; hear ye him. '' And af ter he lef t this earth and went back to heave n, he sent the T-loly Spirit to the apost les. and thr ough them the Spirit cont inued to bear witn ess of J esus. Hence he was "ju stified by the Spirit," or in the Spir it, in that the Spirit ju stified him in claiming to be the Son of God- or Goel ma11ifest in the flesh. And th e ,vork­ ings of the Sp iri t in bea rin g wit ness of Jesus pre sent many myste ries. \Ve can not un ders tand how th e Spir it spa ke the word s on the bank s of the J ord an comm ending J esus as God's only beloved Son, nor how the Sp irit spake to the apos tles on the holy mount furthe r comm ending Je sus as God' s son and represent ative. F ur the rmor e, we can not und erstand how th e apo stles were "all filled with the Ho ly Sp irit " that they mig ht continu e to bear witness of J esu·s a ft er he went home to his Fa ther. T hese are mysteries whic h no finite mind can grasp. Third , he was "See n of ange ls." It is a fa ct, worth y of our cons ideration, that angel s sang at his birth , mini stered to him a ft er his tempta tion, st rengthe ned him in the ga rden of Geths emane, anno unced his resurrection, and were pres­ ent at his ascens ion. Thus ange ls attended him throu gh­ out his ea rthl y Ii fe. But these angels' visits were myst eri­ ous. 'vVe c:1;: not under stand th em, of cour se. We can not und erstand how these angels came to thi s earth and re­ turned to heav en, nor do we kn ow how th ey could sing so as to be heard and under stood by th e shepherds and how they conversed with people on thi s earth . These are mys­ te ries which none can fu lly understand. Fourth, he was "preached unto th e Gentile s." Paul says the fact th at the Gentil es were to be fellow-heirs with th e J ews in th e blessings of the Gospel was a mystery whi ch for ages was hidd en, but in due time was made known by the Holy Spirit. Wh ile th is mystery was for ages hidd en - llep t secret, it was finally made known by the Spirit thro ugh th e preaching of the apost les, and is no longer a mystery. 214 // bileuc Christian CollPge Le ctur es.

Fifth, he wa s "believed on in the wor ld ." Countle ss thou sands, yea, million s, have believed that myste rious story of th e incarnati on of Jesus. It is at least wond erful , ,if not mys terious, how this stor y of th e Babe of Bet hlehem has won its way in the wor ld until teeming million s bow in rev­ erence at the nam e of J esus. Th e lame nted Edward \ \!. Carma ck, of T ennessee, in his lectur e on "C haracte r," said, nn tlte hypot hesis !fia t Jesus ·was only a. man , this would be a greate r miracle th an th e virgin birth. Sixth , he was "received up int o glory ." J esus' departur e from thi s earth was ju st as mysteriou s as his coming was. \Ve can no mor e und erst and the one than we can the other . While in conver sation with his disciples, " while they beheld , · he was taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their sight. " (Acts 1 :9.) An d th ese disciples, filled with won ­ der, stood ther e gazing into heaven , not und erstanding how it was possible fo r him to ascend in this manner . And we are still wondering at it--sti ll not able to und erstand it . So it is clear that thi s "myst ery of godliness" is without con­ troversy, wi th.011,tqu estion, without debate, a great mys tery . But this is not the only myste ry in th e Bible, and it is not the only great mystery. In fa ct, the ting e of myst ery run s through out the who le Book. There are many thing s in the Bible which we can not und ers tand. For instan ce, h6w God, "in the beginning' ' created the heav ens and th e earth; how he afterwards brought on the flood of waters by which the first world of man kind was destroyed; how he opened th e Red Sea and the Jordan River to allow the Israel­ ites to pass through on dry gro und; how the walls of Jeri cho fell down a-fter they were compassed about seven days; how the sun was mad e to stand still at Jo shua's command ; how the sun was veiled in midnight darkn ess for thr ee hours at the crucifixion of J esus ; how Paul , or some one, was caught up to the .third heaven; and just how John received that wonderful vision on the Isle of Patm os. These are all mys­ teries to us. Again, how God brought water . out of the rock when Moses smote it; how he sent manna day after day for the. space of fort y years; how he preserved th e Israelite s' clothe s during the entire forty year s, that th ey did not wear out nor grow old ; and how these Israelites were heal ed when Myst eries of th e B ible. 215 they looked on the brazen serpent. And again, how Jonah was kept alive in the whale 's belly for three days and night s; how the Hebr ew children were protected from the int ensive heat of Nebuchadn ezzar' s fiery furnace; and how the Lord shut up the mouths of the lions that they did not destroy Daniel. And once more , how Jehovah healed Namaan when he dipped in the Jordan River; how the blind man was healed when he washed in the pool of Siloam; how Elijah, E lisha, Je sus, Peter and Paul all rai sed the dead; and, finally , how all the d'ead are to be raised at the coming\ of Chri st. These are all mysteries great and profound, and which non e can fully comprehend. And these are only a few of th e mysteries about which we read in the bible. But let us bear in mind that mysteries do not in any sense discredit the Bible. They rather confirm its divine ongm. If we could grasp the whole of this wonderful Book, it would be proof th at men can produce such a book; while the very fact that we can not grasp it all, can not understand all about it, is a stro ng evidence that man did not write it. At a dinner given in honor of Daniel Webster , the conversation turned upon Chri stianity, whereupon a gentleman asked Mr. Webster if he could comprehend how Je sus Christ could be both God and man. Mr. Webster, looking fixedly at the inquirer, replied: " No, sir, I can not compr ehend it. If I could comprehend Him, He would be no greater than myself, and such is my account ability to God, such is my sense of sinfulnes s before Him, and such is my knowledge of my own incapacit .Y)to recove r myself , that I feel I need a superhuman Savior ." And so, if we could compreh end all the Bible-und erstand everthing about it, then it would be no greater than books written by men , while we feel , with Mr. \Vebster , that we need a super­ human book. But the book of natur e is ju st as full of mysteries as is the book of revelation, and we never think of rejecting nature just because there are mysteri es connected with it . The tinge of the mysteri ous everywher e surrounds us in nature. For instance, ju st how our physical bodies are fed in all their parts is a mystery to us. True, we know some things about it, but mu ch of it is a myster y to us. \Ve do 216 A /Jilen e Christian College Lectures.

not understand how the very same food will produce white skin, yellow skin and black skin on three different men. We do not under stand just how the food we eat is so assimi­ lated that it goes to build up the different parts of the body; some to build up the delicate tissues of the body, some to make the nails on the fingers and toes, some the bones, some the blood, some the brain, and some the nerves, etc. Again, we do not understand how a sheep and a goose can eat the same food and produce wool on the sheep's back and fea­ thers on the goose's back. We do not understand how a red cow can eat green grass and give white milk, from which we churn yellow butter. Can any one understand how: a tender stock of corn will push its way through the hard ground, even bursting a hard clod of earth that it may see the light? Yet it c::ioesit. A few years ago I saw this my stery-not to say miracle. On the north side of an old brick house where one of my best friends lives, there is an ivy growing. One day while this friend and brother lay on his bed sick he discovered a tender branch of ivy that had found its way through the brick wall, plaster and all, and had pushed its way through the wall paper-burst throitgh the wall paper that it might reach the light. My attention was called to this wonderful mystery in nature with the sugge stion that the God of Nature is the God of Revelation. This mystery of nature we had to accept, for there it was right before our eyes. But how did this tender shoot of ivy burst that wall paper , to say nothing of how it found its way through the brick wall? Well, we just do not know, but it did it nevertheless. Once more, why will three rose bushes, all growing side by side, all fed from the same soil, all basking in the same sunshine, and all fanned by the same breezes-why will these three rose bushes produce three color s of roses-red, white and yellow? Do we understand it? Not at all. But we accept it without question, for we have all seen it, and seeing is believing. Here is a long, ugly worm, green in color with whit,e spots on its sides and a hard sharp horn for a tail. Not a woman, and but few men, would dare to pick it up, it is such an unsightly thing. But place that worm under prop er conditions-take good care of it for a ver y f ew days , and he weaves about him- M ysl eries of the B iblc. 217

self a house of silk, entirely enclosing him self in a cocoon which is much smaller than he was to begin with. He is now perfectly harmles s, for, to all appearance s he is en­ tirely lifeless and enclosed in a tough silk shell whi ch it would be difficult to tear open. But just wait a short time, and one end of that tough silk shell opens in some way, and presently there is flying about the hou se a beaue­ ful silk butterfly which any woman would be pleased to pin on her Sunday hat. Now , how wa s thi s thing of ex ­ quisite beauty produced from this unsightly worm ? \,Vho can tell? To the masses , at least, this is a profound mys­ tery; we cannot comprehend it. But we do not think of rejecting it, for nature is replete with ju st such mys­ teries as this. Who can tell why a baby one year old will walk off a bluff one hundred feet high , while a pig only three days old will take care of itself? You could hardly get enough men around that pig to run it off the bluff where there was danger , but the baby will thoughtles sly walk off, never fearing. Do we und erstand it ? \,Ve all know it is true , nevertheless . Again here is an old· hen out in the barnyard with a brood of little chickens , ju st from their shells. They are taking their first sun bath . These little chicken s never saw a hawk, and never heard the distress signal of their attentive mother. But pre sently a pigeon dips down too near them, and the old hen give s that peculiar signal, which the y never heard before, and every little chick will at once hustle for his lif e, seeking shelter under the mother or anything that will hide it from sight. But just across the way there is a beautiful baby , the joy and satisfa<::tion of the home. Its mother has given it every opportunity, and it has developed wonderful powers of intellect, until the family begins to think, no doubt , this particular child has been marked by the angel of death, it being too smart to remain here below. This child , being about one year old, has just begun to toddle about and wander s out into the street. A team of horses come dashing along, running away . The mother, frantic with fear, calls to the babe to turn back-to come to her ; but all to no avail. That year old babe , smart as it is, pay s 110 attention to her danger signals . The mother is unable 218 A bilene Christian College L ectur es.

to arous e any sense of fear in the child . Why will these little chickens heed the voice of their mother when they have had absolutely no training , while this child, ".r'ith all the care a fond mother could bestQW upon it for a whole year , still pays no attention to her danger signals ? \i\Tho can tell? Then, why do men have to be taught how to build their hous es, while a little bird that never built a nest and never saw one built , can build one just as per­ fectly as the old bird which has built them before? It does not relieve us of the difficulty to say that the pig , the little chicken s and the little bird all act through the power of instinct , for we cannot under stand the workings of instin ct. Ev en this old earth on which we live, in its movement s, presents many mysteries. It rotates on its axi s at the rate of one thou sand miles an hour , or sixteen miles a minute, it revolves around the sun at the rat e of seventy-five thousand miles an hour , twelve hundred and ·fifty miles a minute , or twenty-one miles a second. The inclination of its axis swings first the north pole and then the south pole near er the sun and this gives us our seasons-winter and summer , spring and autumn. And these movements have continued for thousands of years without var ying a second. 'Ne cannot understand all this , of course , but whil e some of the more simple minded reject it, still it is generally accepted, and especially by the edu­ cated class. \i\Thy, even as common a thing as the telephone is full of myster y. How can we stand her e and speak to a man a thousand miles awa y and our voices be heard as readily as i F we were in adjoining room s? Sound cannot and does not travel that fast, scienti sts tell us, and yet the voice is heard, and may be recognized as that of a friend or a relative, even thousands of miles away. But ju st how it is we do not know . We do not even know what electricity is. for that matt er, and many of its workings ar-e still mysteriou s to us. Mr. \.Vood, of the Edison Laborat0ry. at ·a chautauqua a few years ago, gave some wonderful demonstration s with electricity . By throwing a strong light on a face for a few minute s he was able to transfer the facial outline s on the canvas ju st to the rear, so that when M3•steries of the Bible. 219

all lights were turned off, there glowed the full face on the otherwise dark canvas; and it remained there several min ­ utes before it finally vanished . Mr. \ 1Vood then stated that they could not explain it- that they did not understand it. So, I repeat, the book of nature is just as full of myste ries as the book of revelation is, and it is ju st as absurd to reject the one for that reason as is the other. But the mystery, both in nature and grace-in the book of nature and in the book of rev elation , is always on God 's side-never on man's side. 'vVe do not have to gra sp the mysterious nor understand the incomprehen sible. Man 's side, both in natur e and grace, is very simple . It is not nec­ essary for us to know just how our food is assimilated so as to properly build up the various parts of the body . Our part is to eat, and nature tak es care of the assimilation. Even a man who does not know what mastication, digestion. and assimilation mean, can neverthele ss eat to the satisfying of every demand, and a half-witted fellow can care for a sheep and a goose while they eat the same food which pro­ duces wool on the sheep's back and feathers on the goo se's back, knowing absolutely nothing about th e mysteriou s process by which the wool and feathers are produc ed. So anyone can care for the red cow whi le she eats green gras s and gives whit e milk which produces yellow butter. And a man who knows practically nothing about the science of agriculture . and one who could not even pronounce the name, can plant corn and rai se a crop as a means of feeding himself and others, knowing nothing about how the tend er shoot pushes its way through the hard soil. And so a man who does not know what horticulture is, can cultivate a whole garden of rose bu shes and know absolutely nothing about the process by which these differ ent bushes produce their different colors of roses. Too, the man who kno11·s nothing about how th e silk worm spins his long stra nd o F silk an

Gad in th e fi esh. And we do not know why Je sus had to die to save us, or how his blood takes away sin . We do not know just how his blood is applied to our souls , nor even why baptism was made a condition of salvation. But, like Abraham , we can believe and obey. O r, like Naaman and the blind man , we can "t ru st and obey , for th ere is no other way. " And thi s is man 's whole dut y in the matter. God always looks after the my ste riou s. He will see that the blood is applied to our souls if we will believ e and obey. And he will see that our bodies are rai sed incorruptibl e if we will only walk righteou sly before him in this life. Hence let us leave the mysterious to him who is "able to do excee d­ ing abundantly above all that we ask or think." But all mysteries may some day be made known , as some of the mysteries have, already been revealed. But until then , we must hold the se mysteries in a pure conscience, never doubting. John Mason says, "If we love the Bible as we ought, it is dear er to us than life, nearer to us than our relations , sweeter to us than our liberty , and mor e pleasant than any earthly comforts; all arguments against the word of Goel are fallacies, all conceit s against it delu­ sions, all derisions against it blasphemies, and all oppositions against it madne ss." And th e illustriou s Sir Walter Scott , one of England 's most distinguished poets, has very truth­ fully said : "Within this ample volue lies The mystery of mysteries. Happiest they of human race To whom God has given grace To read , to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch, to force the way, And better had they ne'er been born \Vho read to doubt or read to scorn ."

Oi,vi.s,io11s of Ilic Bi/;/r, 225

Dl\ 'ISION ' OF 'l'HE BIBLE , B\' C. DALL AS SM !Tl: -L To Timot hy, Paul says, "St udy to show thy seli approved 11nto God. a workman that needeth not to be asha med, rightly di;iding the word of truth ." (IL T irn. 2 :15). From thi s it is clear that the "word of truth ," th e word of God , I~ its rig-ht division s, that ,it must be r-ightlv divided . f\nd it is evident that any effort to study the Bible without ob­ serving its right and proper divisions mu st in a large mea s­ ure be prolitle ss and confusin g. Th e Revision say s, "Givn diligence to pre sent thys elf approved unto God . a workman that need eth not to be ashamed, hand lin aright th e word of truth. " \Ne cannot handle aright the wor of t!:1ilh...ii we ianor e it )r 1ici::.d£, ns. 'I'o study the Bible in its rig 1t divi sions render s it mor e eas ily und erstood , and at the same time enab les us to retain it the more readi ly. To my mind th ere is nothing that ha s produced more confusion among religiou s people in general than a failure to observe the proper division s of God's word . And there is nothing that would be more conducive to the union of all religious people on the Bible alone than to observe Paul's admonition to rightly divide the word of truth. -;- The "word of trut h." the Bible, is divid ed . first , into two .1- Testaments - the Old Testament and the New Testament . 1 \ e somet imes very incorr ectly speak of the " 1 Bible and the New Testa ment "; and now and the n some one will ref er to the "O ld"Bible and the New Bible. " There are not tw o_ Bibles, of course, as thi s language would imply. But there are tw T ts-t he Olcl Testament and the New T estam ent, and these two compose the " Old Bible." And while both of lhe T estaments are inspir ed; while both contain the word s of Goel, still the New Te stam ent is the l~ r T estam ent. Thi s may sound a 6if strang e to some, but mak e th e state ment ba ·ed upon what Paul says in Heb, , 7 :22, Contra sting the two Testament s. he says . " By V so much was Jesus mad e a sur ety of a better testam ent " A "s urety" is one who gives securit y, Jesus is the surety of- the one who gives security to-the New Te tam enl. 226 A/Jilc11e Christian College J,ect11res.

I fence th e New Te stament is the bett er Te stament - it is /1ctter t/w11 the Old J'estame 11/. ln our short-sight edness we mav not be- able to ;ie.~, herein th e New T esta ment ·s bette r than the Old T estament , but _ au! says it is. a11cl ih

- one that must uot be rig litf ,y ro11sidered. Th ere are some

O things we can not • • m th Old. T estament. As ha s a rea y been sta ted, th e Atin of sa lvat io.n. both to the sinn er and the saint . is found in th e New 'f estamen t. T herefore. we cann ot learn what to do to be saved by studying t he Old T esta ment. Th e quest ion of what chur ch to become a mem­ ber of is, to man y, a vex ing question. Ow ing to so much con­ fu sion amo ng religious teachers on t he que st ion, the only safe cour se for one to follow is to study the Bible for him ­ self. But he might stud y the Old Testament card uly from the first of Genesis to th e last amen of Ma lachi and still be no wiser on th e subj ect of chur ch memb ership . T his is clear · fro m th e fact that the chur ch 1s nowhere mentioned in the Old T esta ment. Of cour se we cannot learn \,VHAT church to become a member of from a book that says nothing abo ut any church. And anot her vexing quest ion, with many , is h.ow to be baptized- what is the act of baptism. T his should not 6ea trouble some question in the face of so much plain teac hing on the subject; but it is, nevet heless, owing to so much conflicting teac hin g in the world . Now, to all who are tro ubled on this question the sa fest cour se is to let th e Bible settl e it. But suppose one begins at Genesis and reads carefully eve rything in the th irt y-nine books of the Old T esta ment. \,Vould he th en ]mow what bapt ism is? Could he in thi s way lea rn how to be bapt ized? Certa inly not ; for there .is nothing said abo ut bapti sm in the Old T esta­ ment. But is not th e word "s prinkl e" in the Old T esta ment a numb er of t imes? Y f'.S, and so is the word "dip " in th e ( >lei T estam ent, but thL2 does not prov e any thin g as to what baptism is. I heard a debater say some yea rs ago that the word "sp rinkl e" is in the Bible seve nteen hundred times. and his conclusion was tha t sprinklin g is bapti sm. Thi s is abo ut as reaso nable as to con tend that sata n is a child of Co d becau se his nam e is in the Bible a numb er of time s ! [ repeat, the word "bapt ism·' is not one time found in the Old Te stament , and therefo re we cannot learn how to be bap­ tized by studying th e Old Te stament. Ne ither can we learn ho~ worshjp God in spirit and trut h fio m our study of the Old Testame nt , fo r J esus very clearly impli es, in his Div isions of th e Bibl e. 229

conver sation with the Samaritan woman, that tru e spiritual worship was a thing not known in Old Te stament times. J\nd of cour se we cannot learn from the Old T estam ent how to wor ship God in the church, when the church is no­ where mentioned in the Old Testament. Then what do we learn from the study of the Old Te sta­ ment? It has been said that the "Old Testament is the Ne, H Testament concealed, while the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed." This is :true in a measure, to be sure; for , strange as it may seem, we may learn much about the New Te stament by studying the Old Testament. In fact, we cannot understand all the New Testament without a knowledge of th e Old Testament. There are many refer­ ences in the New Testament to characters, incidents and events in the Old Testament w i h anno be understood wit out a knowledge of the Old Testame ~ ecord. For ex ~ le, in John 3 :14, Jesus says .. '' And as Moses lifted / up the serpent in the wilderness , even so must the Son ~ Man be lifted up." Could one who knows nothing about the Old Testament-one who knows nothing about Mose s and the brazen serpent-could such a one understand thi s statement of Jesus? Evidently not. Again , Jesus says, "Why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." (Matt. 6 :28,29) . 1 \ \That could this reference mean to the man who knows nothing about Solomon and his glory ? Could he appreciat e it ? Could he appropriate the lesson to himself? It would be utterly impossible , of course. Then James tells us that Elijah prayed earnestl y that it might not rain, and that it rained not _on the earth for the space of three year s and six months. (J as. 5 : 17). Now , there are doubtl ess people in this audience who are wondering why Elijah prayed such a prayer-why he wanted such a long drouth. vVe have heard of many people praying for rain to break a drouth. but Elijah is the only man, as far as I know, who ever prayed for a drouth . And you are probably wondering why God heard such a pray er- why he an swered Elijah s' 230 Abi lene Christian College Lectit res.

prayer and withheld the rain for mor e than thr ee years . Well, the man who does not know th e story of Elijah as related in the Old Testa men t cannot answer these questions, of course. He cannot understand and appreciate this refer ­ ence to Elijah and his prayer. And there are many references of this kind which we cannot understand and appreciate without a knowledg e of the Old Te stament. And in addition to this, we learn from the Old Testament th e principle on which God ea s with his people. The Old es ament mal

B~ ylonian Captivity , the R~2..; ation _o_fthe Jews1 Between the estaments the I.Jfe of Chri st, and the Church of Goel'. Tne Anfecliluvian period extends from the .creation to the A Flood, "a peri od of sixteen hundred and fifty-six years . Under this period we may stucly the creation , the stor y of Eden , Cain and Abel and the genealogy from Adam down to Noa-h. This genealogical line contains the names of Adam, Seth, Enosh , Kenan, Mahalaleel , Jared , Enoch, Me­ thusdah, Lamech and Noah . The P ustdiluvian period B extends from the Flood to the Call of Abraham a period o four hundred and twe nty-seven years:-- Under this period we a'y sl:udy the cause of th e Flood, the preparation for the Flood, extent and auration of tfie Flood 1 after the Flood. the Tower of Babel , and the ge12ealogy fron, Noah down to Abr aham. This line contains the nam es of Shem. Arpa ch- shad, Shelah , Eb er, Pele g. Reu , Serug , Nahor , T crah and 232 ,,l /Jile11e Christitw College Lectitres.

!\ braham. Th e Patr iarchal 2eriod exte nds fr om the Call of ,~"' C :\braham to the going down into Eg ypt, a period of t \,·o hundred and fifteen years . Here we may study the sail of Abra ham , journ eys of Abraham, Abraham and Lot , Alira­ liam and Isaac , 1 a cob and E sau, and the twelve patriarch s­ :\ ) the twelve sons of Ja cob. The Egyptian Bondage peri od .V exte nds from the going down into Eg ypt to the coming out of Egypt , a period of two hundred and fifteen years. ln this period we may study the story of Jo seph's being sold into Egypt, the descent of Isra el into Egyp . th e QJ?pres­ sion in Egypt, Moses t 1e aeliverer, Mos es and Aaron, and tlie l~ plague s. The Wilderness Wanderings period ex- ' tends from the crossing of the Red Sea to the crossing of the J ordan, a period of forty years. H ere we may stud y the crossing of the Red Sea, the t:narch to Sinai , hapJ>enings at Sinai, journey from Sinai to Kade sh, the twelve spies sent to Canaan , from Kaclesh to Moab, and Israel in the plains of Moab. The Conque st of Canaan extends from the crossing of the Jordan to the time of the Judges, a period of fifty-one years . Under thi s period we may study th e crossing of the Jordan , the encampment at Gilgal, the fall of ericno, the capture of Ai, the altar at Eba! , the two com­ bined efforts to drive I sra el out of Canaan , and the division of the land among the tribes of Israel. Following thi s we have the judg es of Israel , a period of three hundred and G~ five years. Here \>Vema y study the lives of Othniel, Ehud , Shamg ar, Deborah, Gideon , Ab imelech, Tola. Jair . Jephth ah. lbzan , Elon, Abdon, Samson , Eli and Samuel. The histor y of thi s period cluster s around these fifteen judges. Th e United Kingdom extends from the beginning of the King­ dom to t e division of th e Kingd om, a period of one hun ­ dred and, twenty years. U nder this period we may stud y the call for a king, the reign of Saul, the reign of David. and t e reign of Solomon . ere , too, we may stud y the genealogy from Abraham down to David. The line con­ tains the name s of Isaa c. Jacob, Jud ah, Phare s, Esrorn. Ara111.Arni nadab . Naason , Salmon, Boaz. Obed . JP.sse and 1 Da vid. The Divided Kingdom exte nds from th~ division of the Kingdom to the fall of the Northern Kingdom , a D iv isions of the Bibl e. 233 "l.1-3 period of two hundred and fifty-three years . In this period A we may study the cause of the divi sion and the long lists of kings who ruled over these two kingdoms. In the King- dom of Judah, the Southern kingdom ; there were thirteen kings, as follows: Rehoboam , Abijah , Asa, Jehoshapfiat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah (the usurper), Joash, Amaziah. Uzziah , Jotham , Ahaz and Hezekiah. In the Kingdom of Israel , the Northern Kingdom, there were nineteen kings, a's follows: Jereboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah , Zimri, Omri , Ahab , Ahaziah , J ehoram, Jehu , J ehoahaz, J ehoash, Jere- boam II, Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem , Pekahiah, Pekah and Hoshea. The story of this period clusters around these thirty-two kings . The Kin dom of Judah Continued ex- J, tends from the fall of the Northern Kingdom to the . fall of the Southern Kingdom-when the Kingdom of Judah / went into Babylonian Captivity, a peripd of one hundred ..., ~ and thirty-five years. Here we may study the seven ad- ditional kings who reigned in the Kingdom of Judah. hey are: Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, J ehoahaz, J ehoiakim, J ehoi- achin, and Zedekiah . 'To know the story of these forty- two kings is to know the story of the Old Testament kingdom in considerable detail. The abylonian Captivity extends from the fall of the Kingdom of--:J'udah to the retm; of the Jews to Jeru salem, a peri6d of fifty years , not inclu.din,g the twenty years of partial captivity . Under thi s period we may study the partial captivities, the general captivity , the four Hebrew children, Nebuchad- nezzar 's two dreams, Neb chadnezzar's golclen image, the feast of Belshazzar, and D'¢nie in the Lion's den. Follow- ing tfiis we have a period of ninety-two years, ' known as the Jlestoration of the Jews. Under this period we may l ' study Daniel's prayer and confession , the Decree of Cyrus, -q1,.. the first return of the Jews under Zerubbabel, the second return under Ezra , and how Nehemiah rebuilt th e walls of · Jerusalem . "Between the Testament s ' is a penod of about J7'l four hundred years, from the close o the Old Te stament L_J..,()'O to the QPening of th e New T estam ent, sometim es called -, the "Blank leaf of the Bible." Ther e is no inspired rec- ord covering thi s period , of cour se, but in secular histor y 234 Ab ilene Christian College Lectwre s.

we may very profit ably study the Jew s und er Pe ~ rule, the Jews und er Grecian rul e, the J ewish iiy~ pendence ( including a stud y of the Maccabe ~s), the ews und er Roman r le, and the rise of the J ewish sects . The Lif e of Christ is a period of some thirty-four vears, from his oil'th o his ascens ion. He re we may study the life of John the Ba tist ( the fo rerunn er of J esns) , the birth of Jesus, His flight into Egypt, H is retu rn to Nazareth , Hi',:; visit to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old, His baptism, Hi s tem ptation. in the wilderne ss, H is we dch ng ( mcluding the ermon on th e Moun t), H is senaing 011t of the w_clve and the seven ty, H is tr~nsfigurat ic1n, His rqiracl t.c r1nrl parables, the la~t Passove r and th, ).. 11d· ~ supper, 1~ is agonies in ethsema ne, His trials ;ind , rn ci­ fixion , His death and burial, and His resurr ection and as­ censio 1; T he Chur.ch of God period ext~nds from the o. death of Chri st, or the first Pentecost th ereafter, to the close of th e New Testame ~ rd a period of seventx.,. yea rs . Here we may study the estab lishing of the chur ch intne c·ty of Jeru salem, the extens ion of the church through the preaching of the scatte red disciples, and through the preaching of Philip, Peter, Pau l and others. But the Bible is still further divided into sixtv-s·x r.arts, or book , each of which has its own story to tell The first book in the Bible, among other matters, gives us an accou nt of the beginning of things, and therefore is called Genesis. The secon d book in the Bible, because it relate s to Isra el's going out of Egypt, is called Exodus , from a Greek word which signifies "a going out ." The book of Leviticu s takes its name from the fac t that it re­ late s, in a large measur e, to the Levites and th eir service . Th e book of Numbers was so named because it gives , among other thing s, two account s of th e numbering of Israel. Deuteronom y comes from a Greek word which sign ifies "a repetiti on of the law." The book contain s a re-sta te­ ment of the law, with cettain revisio ns neces sary to the national life of the J ews af ter they were settled in. Canaan. The book of J oshu a tells the story of Israe l un der the leader ship of Jo shua, and hence its name . The book of Divis ions of the Bible . 235 Judg es gives an account of the reign of the fifteen judges of Israel, and hence its name. Tht Two books of Samuel are named · from Samu el, their author. Th ese two books give an account of the last two judges , Eli and Samuel, and of the first two king s, Saul and David. The two books of the King s a,·e named fr om the fact that they give an account of forty of ihe forty-two kings of Israel and Judah. The two book s of Chronicles are so named from the fact that the y chronicl e or regi ste r man y important events from th e creation to the Babylonian Captivitiy, covering a period of more th an thr ee th ousand yea rs. Ezekial and Daniei both take their names from their writers, and they give us glimpses of J ewi~h life in Babylon during the captivity The books of Ezra and Nehemiah also take their names from their writer s, and they give us · an account of the Jews' return fr om Baby lon to Jerusalem. The book of Ruth is the one love story of th e Bible, and takes its nam e from Ruth the devote d daughter-in-law of Naomi, whose devotion to her mother-in-law has won the admiration of every read er of Old T estament history. The book of Job relat es the patience of a loyal soul under many trying difficultie s, and tak es its name from its principal character, Job. T he book of Esther tells us how a little Jewish maiden became a queen, and then was instrumental in saving the whol e Jewi sh nati on. It gets its name from Queen Esther , of cour se. The book of Psalms, written by David and others, was the Heb rew Hy mnal , the book of praise. It cont ains a collection of hymns, or psalms, and hence its name. Th e book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, and is a collection of wise sayings, or prov erbs , from whence it gets its nam e. The book of Ecclesiastes was also written by Solomon, and repre sent s him as "T he Preacher. " It was written to teach us that the whole duty of man is to " fea r Goel and keep his commandments ." The Song of Solomon is just one of the one thousand and five song s wh ich he wro te. Th e book of Lamentations was written bv th e "Weep ing Prop het" Jeremiah, and it laments the deso'­ lat ion of the land of Israe l while the J ews were in captivity. H ence its name. The rest of the Old Testament books- 236 Abi lc-11r Christian Colfege Lecture s.

Isaiah. Jeremiah, Ho shea. Joel. Amos, Obadiah , Jon ah, Micah, Nahum, Habakuk, Zephaniah , Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi - all get their nam es from their wr iters. These books, among other thing s, contain mu ch prophecy relat ­ ing to the coming of J esus and th e estab lishment of his Kingdom, the Church of Je sus Chri st. Matthew, Mark , Luke and John, all take their names from their writers and they giv e us four accounts of the Jife story of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles gives us an account of the labor s of the apostle s, th e doing s of the apo stles, in establishing the church in the variou s part s of th e world , and henc e its name, The epistles, Roman s, Corinthian s, Galatian s, Eph esian s, Phi llipians, Colossians and The ssalonians, all get their names from th e places to which Pau l addressed these letters. Timothy , Titu s and Phil emon are named from the individual s to whom th e lette rs are addressed. Hebrew s get s its name , probably , from the fa ct that it re­ lates much of God 's dealing s with the Hebrews. Jame s, Peter, John and Jude also take th eir names from their writ ers . Th ese epistles contain messages to Christian s, teach ing them how to live soberly, righteously and god ly in this pre sent world that they may at last enter the "Hom e of the Sou l" over there. Revelation is th e one propheti c book of the New T esta ment and relates largely to th e futu re glory of the Kingdom of Je sus Chri st. All these book s of the Bible are subj ect to still further divi sion s, of cour se. Take th e book of Ruth as an ex­ amp le. In thi s book we find four distinct parts, or divi sions. Fir st, Elim elech and Nao mi leaving Beth lehem because of a famine; second, the story of their so-journ in Moab and what befell th em there; third , th e return of Naomi with Ruth to Beth lehem , and fourth , the sequel to the story ­ th e birth of Obr d . In th e same way we might be able to divide every one of the sixt y-six book s of the Bible. And to thus know the Bible in all its divisions and subdivision s is an accompl ishment worthy of our best endeavor . I believe it is possib le for every one who desires it to have a working knowledge of th e Bible- to be able to use it intelligent ly and profitab ly. Tt is not possible. neither is Divisions of th e Bible . 237

it p1:cictical for us to commit to memor y the whole Bible, but it is possible, and it is also ne cessary , to have a working knowledge of it. For instance , no man knows every word in an unabridged dictionary, but any of us may know it well enough to use it intelligently. So, no man knows every­ thing that is in an En cyclopaedia of twenty thousand pages, but we may have a working knowledge of it ; we may know it well enough to be able to find just what we want. No man is able to know everything that is in a library of one thousand books , but every man should be able to use his librar y intelligently - be able to find in it just what he may want. So, with the Bible. \Ve cannot commit it all to memory, or if we could, I do not think it would be prac­ tical, but we can and should have a working knowledge of this great divine library; we should be able to find what we desire, and find it readily. Some years ago I was on a train and just in front of me sat two young men who · were swearing, or cur sing, quite freely. An old man who sat just across the aisle decided to reprove the young man gently, and ventured the assertion that the Bible forbade their conduct ,and quoted, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Recognizing me in some way as a preacher, he asked me for my Bible that he might read the quotation to them. I furnished him the Bible, but to his great surpri se he could not locate the passage . He then asked me to find it for him . I took the Bible, and not being as familiar with it as preachers should be, I searched diligently-fir st in the New Testament and then in the Old, until the situation became quite embarrassing before I finally found the desired passage, but I have not forgotten where that passage is until this good day. It was this general knowledge of the Bible-this working knowl- edge of the Bible that I so much needed at this time. ----, The Bible has been quite appropriately compared t\~ { great temple with many rooms, each room being known by what it contains. We should know where the se variour. room s in this divine temple are, and what each room con· tains. \Ve should know it well enough to pass from room to room with ease-without any trouble or inconvenience . 238 A bilene Chris tian College L ect ·1tres.

Some one has said': " Many yea r!; ago I ent•ered the wonder­ ful temple of God's revelation . I entered the portico of Gene­ sis and walked down through the Old T estain ent art ga llery where the pictures of Adam, No ah, Abraham, Isaac, Ja cob, Moses, Joshua, Samu el, David and Daniel hung on the wall. I entered th e mu sic room of the P salms where the Spirit swept the key-board of natur e and brought fo rth the dirg e-like wail of th e "w eeping prophet" J eremiah, to the grand impassion ed strain s of I saiah, until it seemed that every reed and harp in God's great organ of nat ure re­ sponded to the tuneful tou ch of David· the sweet singer of Israel. I entered th e chapel of Ecclesiastes where th e voice of the preacher was heard , and into the conservato ry of Sharon , and the 'lily of the Va lley's' sweet scented spices filled and perfum ed my life. I entered the business office of Pro verbs and passed into the observatory room of the proph ets where I saw ma-ny telescopes of various sizes, some pointing to far off events, but all concentra ted on the Bright Morning Star whi ch was to rise over the moon-lit hills of Jud ea for our salvation . I entered the audience room of the King of Kin gs and caught a vision fr om th e stan dpo int of Ma tth ew, Mark , Luke and John, passe d int o the Act s of Apostles where the H oly Spirit was doing his office work in the formation of the infant chur ch, and into the corre spond ence room where sat P aul , Pe ter, Jam es, Jud e and John penning their epistles. I stepped into the thron e of Revelation where all towered into glitt ering peaks, and I got a vision of the King seat ed upon his thron e in all his glory, and I cried, "A ll hail the power of Jesus' name ! Let angels pro str ate fall ; Bring forth the roya l diad em, And crown Him Lord of all." Destructive Criticism. 241

DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Ev G. A . Kr..1 NG MAN. Eve r since the auth or of Destruct ive Cr iticism tempted Eve, he has been trying to destroy the word of God. He employs his multifarious art s and devices in a most insidu ­ ous manner, and is most dangerous when he poses as an ange l of light or a mini ster of right eousness .All the attacks made upon the Bible have not only failed but th e Bible ha ~ glorio usly triumph ed ove r its enemies and is found in all parts of the world today and is being read by more people than at any other time in the history of mankind . The lat est effort of the Old Serpent to rob us of our blesse d hope and only infallibl e guide is mad e through the channe l of cr it­ icism. He has wrapped his coils around our pub lic schools. colleges, and uni versities; our printing presses, our plat ­ forms and pulpits . Ma ny are take n unawa res; they are led to believe that if they expect to be recognized in the educa­ tiona l circles they must accept the views of the destruct ive crit ics. It does not take a prophet to "discern the signs of the times," nor the son of a prophet to forecast the natur e of the fight that mu st be fought within th e nex t few years. The enemy has challenge d us and mu st be met; yea, rath er, "the fight is on" and we mu st meet the foe and give to the great hosts of young peop le who should and will be educat ed "the heritage of th em that fear the Lord; " ,ve are und er obligation to show that the Bible sta nds the test of criti cism : the pre sent age mak es that demand upon those of us who believe in God and. accept th e Bible as His inspired word . But one may ask. W hat do you mean by Destructiv e Cr iticism, In ord er to answer th is question proper ly it will be necessary to define several terms that are being used in the discussion of this subject. Biblical Criticism concern s itself with the contents of the books of the Bible. It deals with th e text , the date , the autho rship, genuineness, reliability, and literary charact er­ istics of each of these books. There are three distinct de­ partments of thi s science: ( 1) Textual Criticism, which has to do with the text itself ; (2) Historica l Criti cism, 242 Abilr11e Christia11 College Lectures.

whi ch inquir es into th e elate and auth orship of a book, and ( 3) Lite rary Criti cism . \rhic h fxa min es th e literar y styl e. In 1707 Mi ll' s " Criti cal Greek T estament' ' was pub lished and T ex tual Criti cism wa s recog ni zed a s a sc ience. Thi s was at first call ed Biblica l Criti cism , but as th e science de­ veloped, th e 01 her form s o f crit icism, nam ely Hi storica l and lit erary, claim ed reco gniti on. and since that tim e the exp res­ sion ''Biblical Criti cism " ha s been as the gene ral term with th e thr ee divi sions as above indi cat ed. Near th e close of th e eight eenth centur y E ichhorn introdu ced the tit) e ·'H igher Criti cism' ' to denote th e hi sto rica l and litera ry element s and to di stingui sh th ese fr om Textua l Cr iti cism wh ich is also called Lowe r Cr iti cism . V\/h ile th e exp ress ion Biblica l Crit ­ icism was first used in th e beg innin g of th e eight ee nth cen­ tury to designate thi s br anch of resea rch as a science, we must not conclude that th ere was no biblical criti cism befo re that time. All the labors bes tow ed by schola rs in an attempt to gath er togeth er the writin gs of in sp ire·d me1f prop erly belong to thi s scien ce. VVe owe a debt of gratitude to tho se Hebrew s who gath ered tog eth er the thirty-nine book s of th e O ld Te stam ent and es tabli shed what is ca lled th e "ca non" or " rule " by whi ch the writing s are shown to be in spired. genu ine, and reliabl e. Anoth er grea t work of Biblica l Crit­ icism was done by tho se who gat hered tog et her th e tw ent y ­ seve n books of the New T esta ment as the produ ctions o f the holy men of God who were m oved by th e H oly Sp irit . The title " Higher Criti cism " ha s be en ve ry much mi s­ und erstood. \Ve have shown that in its co rr ect u sage it ref ers to a work that has given u s our B ible in its pre sent for m of sixty-six bo oks. The exp ress ion ha s been broug ht into disreput e by certain Ge rm an Rationa lists who adopted and pur sued the wrong m ethod of inv est igation. To he accurate, we should say tha t they fo llowed on ly one line of reasoning - the experi mental or empirical. Now thi s kind of reason ing is valuable provided it is sustained by the other two kind s : the Indu cti ve and Dedu ctive . By th e Tnd11ctivc method we mean that proc ess of the mind by wh ich we inf er that what we kn ow to be true of t he individual s of a ce rtain cla ss is true of th e who le cla ss; we pass from particu lars to Destr11ct·i11eC riticism . 243

the general , from parts to the whole ; from certain propo si­ tions to a prin ciple. By the Deductive meth_pd is meant th at operation of th e mind by which we pass from general 10 particular, from the class to the individual; from th e prin ­ ciple to the propo sition s. W e start with an establi shed premi se or one that is admitt ed and thu s arrive at necessary conclu sions or consequence s. A certain class of Bible critic s have ignored both of the se method s and followed only the empirical or exp erimental. W e would not be und erstood as denouncing thi s method of investigation; it is very valuable; it ha s its place in the world of thought; we learn many thing s by observation and ex­ periment , but we cannot depend upon these alone. Em ­ pirical Law s are defined as Laws found ed on conformitie s ascertained to exist, but have not yet been traced to any broad general principle. Empirical Knowledge has been described as knowledg e gained purely by observation or experiment , and has no guarant ee for its truth but th e judgment and opinion of its author. It is not difficult to see that ther e will be two result s of such a partial and un­ scientific investigation: ( 1) There will be many erroneou s statements made and many of the conclusions reached will be fal se; the human mind is not infallible , and our obser ­ vations and experiments are of necessity limited since we are not in possession of infinite knowledge. (2) There will be bold ass umptions and claims to superior scholar ship on the part of those who follow this method, exclusively; they will consider thems elves as leaders of advance thought and intellectual progr ess; men of broad mind s and liberal spirit s. And thi s is exactly what has happ ened. Tho se who pur sued the wrong method of inve stigation hav e rea ched, conclu sions which if tru e would destroy th e Bible as the inspired word of God , and we have no apology to make for designating them Destru ctive criti cs and Infidel s; they repre sent an abu se and per version of the prin ciples of Biblical Criti cism. As to boa st of superior scholarship on the part of thi s school of criti cs, I wish to present an extract from the gift ed Prof . L . T. Town send, L. L. D. In a lectur e delivered in Tr emont Templ e in Boston , January 28, 1906. 2,14 Abilrne Christ-iaizCollege Lect1wes. he said: "T he advocates of the new theology appear to b~ work ing for aJ.I it is worth, the respect - almo st rev erence ­ that the mass es of our people have for those who are thought to be ver y learn ed; a re spect that often is immensely great er than it ought to be; for a man may know all the idiom s of the Hebr ew an.d Gree k languag es and yet be a fool in archaeology, history, philosophy and science, and even be deficient in common sense. And somehow the new theology people ha ve been rem ar kably successful also in _giving the impre ssion that there are scarcely any advocates of primi­ tive. orthodoxy who have much standing among scholars or thinker s and that the higher critics, beyond dispute are masters in the educated world." This boast ed popularity is easily accounted , for in the light of the following facts : " It was when the thron e of Germany, and her univ ersitie s, pulpits and press had . gone over to rationali sm, and when King Alfred II, the greatest conqueror and ruler Germany had had for centuries, was filling every university under his control with professors of the infidel stamp, and when even the hymn books were taken in hand and freed from every­ thing objectionable to infidelity, that there was established in Berlin, in 1765, under the patronage of the King and the univer sities, a publication called The Universal German Library , whose aim was to commend in extravagant term s every rational book or writer, and to pour contempt upon every other. Now, while in our country there happens to be no such Universal Library Magazine, dealing out thi s kind of inju stice , yet there is plenty of evidence that our religiou s press, and especially the secular, have pretty gener­ ally been doing this Universal German Library kind of business, and are responsible for the fact that Christian people hav e been only poorly informed as to what is reall y doing in the theological world, and are left without a knowl­ edge of even the name s of eminent American scholars who hold conservative views. Nor is it too much to say that these religious denominational papers of which better thing s ought to be expected, have no intention of being fair in their treatment of books and authors that are not of their way of thinking ." (The Bible Champion, September , 1913) . Destru ctive Crit-icism. 24.5

THE REAL ISSUE . \Ve are not objecting to Biblical Criticism, Lower or Higher. We rejoice that through the avenue of Lower or Textual Critici sm, the pure text of the Sacred Scripture s has been preserved and handed down from generation to generation ; and that through the medium of Higher Criti­ ~ism we have come into pos session of very valuable in­ formation regarding the date , authorship, inspiration, genuineness, reliability and canonicity of the several book s of the Bible , and , have been taught to appreciate their liter­ ary beauty and value. We have no fight to make again st criticism properly and legitimately conducted; nay, we wel­ come every test to which the Bible may be subjected for we know it will come out of the crucible sweeter , richer, purer , and more radiant with the promises of God and his eternal truth. Our fight is again st the destructive criticism of the rationalisti c school. James Orr in The Problem of the Old Testament shows clearly that the fundamental issue is found in the answer to the question , Is the religion of Israel of natural or supernatural origin? Those who with Kuenen, Graf, vVellhausen, Duhm , Smend , Stade , Gunkel and other s hold the position that the Religion of Isra el . was of . natural origin , simply a historic development or ···e volution of older forms of religion , are wthout a doubt destructive critic s. vVellhausen , one of the foremost repre­ sentatives of this school acknowledges himself to have been a disciple of Vatke. Let him speak for himself: "It is only within the region of religious antiquities and dominant re­ ligious ideas-the region which Vatke in his Biblische Theologie had occupied in its full breadth, and where the real battle first kindled-that the controversy can be brought to a definite issue." (Orr p. 5) . Now Vatke was a discipl e of Hegel, a German rationalist of the most pronounced type . Hegel was one of the succes sors of Kant the i:rreat German philo sopher who se system tended toward ideaii sm ; this idealistic tendency wa s carried to an extreme by Hegel. who began with pure nothing and reasoned that thought it­ self or pure logic is the revelation of the absolute; that thought itself is the sole existence, the very process in which 246 /lb ile11e Christia11Co llege Lec tures. the Ausolut e, or God, consists. Fo r instan ce, you see a tr ee ; H egel says the tr ee has no real existence; neith er has your perception of th e tr ee any real ex istence; the only thin g that really exists is the idea, the thought , or th e re­ lation of your mental percepti on and th e tr ee. N·::>w when such ideas as these are applied to the Bible what is the result ? Kun en, a Du tch scholar, and one of th e prin cipal lead ers of the "modern movement" among th e Du tch, says. "So soon as we derive a separate pa rt of I srael's religious life dir ectly fr om God, and allow th e supern atur al or imme­ diate revelation to int ervene in even one single point , so long our view of the whole continu es to be incorr ect." \tVhat an ad mission!! No t only does thi s doctrin e of Destru ctiYe Criticism bear th e brand " Mad e in Germany," but its very found ation rests upon th e denial of th e supern atur al or immediate revelation fr om God! Th e Mosa ic account of the creation of the material universe is thro wn away and we are offered th e Nebul ar Hypot hesis . T he germ s of thi s th eory are in Kant's philos­ ophy ; th e suggestion of its development was first made by Sir \Vm. He rschel, the gr eat astro nomer, but it remained for La P lace to carr y it out to its conclu sions which repre­ sent the great and wonderful panoply with its milli ons of stars, planets, moons and sun s, as resultin g fr om a proces s of nat ur al development beginning with a cloud y vapor. \,Vho can believe thi s? Scienti sts themselves say that thi s th eory must give way to th e planetes imal the ory, which in turn will have to give way to another theory, and so add in­ finitum. How can man obtain the consent of his mind to substitut e such th eories for th e simple fac t that "Go d mad e the two great light s ; the greater light to rul e the day and the lesser light to rul e the night : he made the stars also" (Ge n. 1 :16). Le t oth ers pose as grea t think ers, philosophers and scienti sts, but give me the simple faith of a child by which I "und erstand that the worlds were fr amed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been been made out of things which appea r ;" ( Heb. 11 :3) , and Jet me sing with Jo seph Addi son : \ \ Destructive Criticis'l'n. 247

"The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue, ethereal

sky , . . i , .,1 . 0 . . 1 And spangled heavens, a sh111111gfra111e , I 1e1r great ng111a proclaim. . . . 'fh' umveariecl sun, from clay to clay, Doe s his Creator s power display , And publi shes to every land, The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shad es prevail , the moon tak es up th e wondrou s tale , And nightly, to the listening earth, Repeat s th e stor y of her birth; While all the stars that round her burn , And all the planet s in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll , And spr ead the news from pole to pole.

What tho ' in solemn silence all Move round thi s dark ter­ restrial ball- What tho' no real voice nor soupcl Amid their radiant orb s be found- - In reason's ear they all rejoi ce, And utter forth a glorious voice; Forever singing as they shin e, "Th e hand that mad e us is divine ." Applying the principles of destru ctive critici sm to ,he creation of man, we mu st strike out the scriptural account as given in Genesis, and accept the Darwinian Theory of Evolution. This theory starts with a bit of protopla sm or an Amoeba and through the process of natural dev elopment finally introduces to us a sentient being called man, with all his wonderful intellectual powers, his moral nature , a con­ science, and a soul-hunger for the Infinite! \Vhat comfort do men find in a theory that makes them no bett er than a tadpole, lizard, boa-con strictor, house ·-fly, .June-bug , hippo ­ potomus, giraffe or gorilla ? \,Vi,en the Bible declare s that man was made in the image and likenes s of Goel! Again we call upon scientists to sit in judgment and this is what , they have to say : ( - I 248 Ab ilene Christian College L ectures . '·As early as 1889 Prof. Virchow of Berlin, admittedly the ablest anthropologist of modern time s, when summing up the results of investigator s of his subject, by himself and other leading scientists, covering a period of twent y years. declared: "In vain have the link s which should bind man to the monkey been sought ; not a single one is there to show . The so-called proanthropos , wh• should exhibit thi s link , has not ·been found. No really learned man assert s that he has seen him ...... Perhaps some one may hav e seen him in a dream, but when awake he will never be able to say that he has approached him. Even the hope of soon discovering him ha s departed; it is hardly spoken of." Shortly before his death, some ten years later , in an address before the International Medical Society, he spoke to the same effect, and with even a greater degree of positiveness, asserting that , "the attempts to find the tran sition from animal to man has ended in total failure. The middle link has not been found and never will be." That the ;Darwinian theory of descent has in the realm s of nature not a single fact to confirm it is the unequivocal testimony of men as distinguished in their respectiv e depart­ ments of scientific research as Dr. N. S. Shaler, of Harvard University, Dr . Etheridge, fossiologist of British Museum , Prof. L. S. Beale, King's College , London, Prof. Fleisch ­ mann , of Erlangen and others. Several notable books bearing on thi s subject have ap­ peared during the past year. One by George Paulin, pub ­ lished by Scribners, entitled "No Struggle for Exi stence ; No Natural Selection" presents an array of facts in support of the two assertions made in its title, and against Evolution, which must carry con.viction to any unprejudiced mind. Another to the same effect is by Professor L. T. Town send entitled "Co llapse of Evolution " Still another and we believe an epoch marking book , is from the pen of Professor E. Dennert , Ph. D ., recently publi shed in Germany, and en­ titled "At the Death-bed of Darwinism. " A perusal of thi s book "leaves no room for doubt, " as asserted in the preface of the American edition , "about the decadence of the Dar­ winian theory in the highest scientific circles of Germany. \

Destructiv e Criticism. 249

And outside of Germany the same sentim ent 1s shared generally by the leader s of scientific thought." Thus we see that, in the opinion of the va st majority of those best qualifi ed to judge in the matt er, the Evo ­ lutionary theory is in ext remi s. Nay, more, is already dead, since the spirit (the theory of Natural Selection) has de­ parted. Some of its friend s may sit about the rema ins in­ tently watching for some signs of ren ewed Ii fe, but they watch in vain. That among those who mourn the passing of Evolution there are some naturalist s and others who clung to it, as said by Dr. Goett e, the eminent Strasburg Zoologist "s imply because it seems to furnish a much desired mechanical ex­ planation of purposive adaptions, " is not surprising, since it leaves them nothing but the hated alternative of accept­ ing Genesis with its personal God and creative acts. We have shown that it is this method of reasoning that ha s produced a school of literary critic s of the Bible who se erroneous conclusions are destructive and that continu allv­ they assume that the religion of Israel was develop ed natur ­ ally through the experience of the Israelites and their asso­ ciations with the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians and Babylonian s, and that it was not revealed to them by Jeho ­ vah. Ju st here we wish to introduce the testimon y .of the learned Dr. R. A. LeMaster: It is one of the wonders of modern times that ju st when the faith of Christian men in the Inspired Authority of the Scripture s is being so sorely tried by the professed friend s of the Bibl e, that th e records of antiquity should so providentially open to the aid of the genuine seeke r af ter the truth. The testimony of Archeology definitely and uniformlv sustains the historic truth of the Scriptures, and does not support the hypothesis of Higher Criticism in a single par­ ticular . The only answer which the Higher Critics can make to this fact is to make the claim that the religion of the Bible had its origin in Babylonia, and the historic dates and event s of the Old Te stament were obtained from the older records 250 A bilc11e Christin11Co llege L ectures. of Egypt, Syria and Pale stine. An assumption whi ch re sts wholly on a for ced misinterpretation of history. 'T'he exact reverse of thi s is true . Th e Semiti c Babylonian religion came from Syria and Pale stine, and the creation, deluge and the ante-diluvian patriarch s of Babylon came fr om Pal es­ tine; instead of the stories of the Hebrew s having come from Babylon, as held by nearly all Semiti c writer s. But let us be fair and let the se critic s speak for them ­ selves In the Brooklyn Eagle , June 7, 1909, we have the following quotation s from lectures delivered to th e student s of Michigan Univer sity at Ann Arbor: "The Patriar chs are legendary being s" ...... "As yet we have no evidence of Israel's sojourn in Goshen " ...... "The popular idea of th e exodus has no foundation in fact. " ...... "The Gospels con- tain 2,899 verses; of these only about one hundr ed furni sh strict biographical details " ...... " Our information about Jesus is scanty indeed. " ...... "vVe do not know what Jesu s' descent wa s" ...... "We do not know his birth-place for certain" ...... "\Ve do not know his age at the time he- undertook his mission " ...... "We have no absolute cer - tainty that any single saying in the Gospel s wa s uttered in that precise form by Jesus" ...... ",We do not know when or where he was crucified" ...... "We do not know exactly what claim s he made with respect to his mis sion on earth." \Ve close these infidel sayings with another from Well ­ hausen in these blasphemous words: "I knew th e Old T esta ­ ment was a fraud, but I never dreamt...... of making God a party to the fraud." (Beecher' s Biblical Criti cism , pp . 7 and 8). The critics we have so far considered have come out in the open. Like the giant of the Philistine s th ey hav e defied the armie s of Israel, and with David of old they have been met "in the name of Jehovah of hosts. " But ther e is anoth er class to which we now invite your attention. They are styled "Moderate Higher Critic s.'0 These are men who do not deny the supernatural but have consciou sly or unconsciously adopted some of the principles of the destructive school and are on that account the more dang erou s. Th ey follow what is known as "The Hi storic Method" and tr y to har- Destru ctive Criticism. 251

monize it with the Bible. They are carr ying on a subm arin e warfare; we do not always know wher e they ar e; th ey hav e unsettled the mind s of many; they are eloquentl y preaching about th e man Je sus but say very little about "God manif est in the flesh." They discour se learnedly on th e character of J esus the Nazarene, but have cease d to preach "C hri st and him crucified." They find no place for th e atonem ent and deem it unwise to preach doctrinal sermon s; the sinn er is not warned to " flee from the wrath to come" and the saint is not encouraged with the hope of "entering in th rough the gate s into th e city ." Thi s form of subtl e infid elity. ju stly styled "C rypto-agno sticism" is slowly working upon the heart s of the un suspecting and poisoning the lives of 1hr innocent. Our young people need to be warned. A gradu ­ ate of one of our stat e uni versity told me that in his divisi on of the graduating class ther e were 150 men all of whom had shipwreck made of th eir faith while at th e uni versity. Never has there been a time when th ere was greater need of pr eaching the pospel of the Son of God in a plain and simple way, and "contending earnestly for th e faith once for all delivered to the saints." Let us not be affright ed by th e adver saries; they can do nothing against th e truth; God has magnified his word above all his nam e and J esus th e Son of God has said: Heaven and earth shall pass away. but my word s shall never pas s away." Th e Bible has noth ­ ing to fear from Low er Critici sm, Higher Critici sm, or the H,ighest Critici sm ; it has stood the test for centuri es and will endure them all until the end of tim e. Let us give our selves more devotedly than ever to the great task of educating our young peopl e for whom we may well entertain fear s if the y are set adrift on th e ocean of life beneath who se waters the sub-marin es of T eutonic rationali sm and bombs of crypo-agnosticism await th e ap­ proach of th e unsuspecting mariner . That th eir voya ge to the hav en of eternal peace and glory may be safe, let us give them the only infallibly safe guide-th e Book of books. "Bring me the book ," said th e great Sir \1Valter Scott when he was about to die. "\i\That book ?" asked M r. Lo ck­ hart. "Ther e is but one Book now; hrin g me the Bible.'' 252 A bilene Christian Collrge l e'Ct11rr.~.

"Mos t wondrou s book! bright candl e of the Lord ! Star of ete rnit y ! th e only sta r By whi ch the ba rk o f man could nav igat e Th e sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss Secur ely; only star which ro se on T ime, And on its dark and tro ubled billow s, still, A s gene ration, drifting swif tly by, Succeeded generation, thr ew a ray O f heaven's own light , and to the hill s of Goel T he eve rlas tin g hill s, po inted the sinner's eye.'' Christian Educat io11. 255

CHR I ST IAN EDUCATION.

BY UJ,;Nl{Y EL I SPEC K .

I. Introducti on. \,\That makes schools necessa ry, and what art th ey for ? \Ve are all fa miliar with the facts which answer the se-ques­ tions . Schools ex ist fo r thr ee reaso ns. Ther e ar e those who have the ability to learn , there are fact s and ideals that should be taught , and there are people who mak e the claim of being able to teach . A concept ion of a goal , or a kind of life that is reall y worth living, pres ides, explicitly or implicitl y, over all edu­ cat iona l effort. Education give s to childr en the benefit o f expe rience other than their own, and in advance of their own. Th us the facto rs involved in the idea of education are these: an immat ur e being, a goa l or desti ny for life, and older peop le who can help th e young er to realize thi s goal or destiny. It might be well to stop ju st here long eno ugh to define educat ion. As a definition is a relative thing , let us con­ sider severa l definition s. "I believe that the school is primarily a social instituti on. Educ ation being a social proce ss, the school is simply th e fo rm of comm unit y life in which all those agencies are concent rated that will be most effective in bringing the child to shar e in the inh erit ed resourc es of the race, and to use his own powers for social ends . I believe that education th erefore , is a proc ess of living and not a preparation for future living."- Dew ey. "Ed ucation is a grad ual adjustment to the spiritual possessions of the race."-N ichola s Murray Butler. "Ed ucat ion is the sum of the reflective efforts by which we aid nature in the deve lopment of physical, intellectual , and mo ral facultie s of man , in view of his perfection , his happin ess, and his social destination."-Compayre. " Education can not .b e better defined than by calling it the orga nizatio n of acquired habits of conduct , and ten­ dencie s to behavior. "-Jame s. 256 1uile11e Christian College Lectures. '·To prepa re us for complete living is the fun ction which edu cat ion has to discharge." - Spencer. "Th e tru e end of teac hin g is one with th e tru e aim of life; and each lesso n must be presented with the con­ cious pur pose of makin g the most out of the life of the one taught. "--To mpkins. "T he quest ion to be asked at the end of an educational step is not what has the child learned, but what has the child become ?"-Mo nr oe. Fo r the sake of convenience of language, and espe cially because th e public schools of our countr y do not give re-. ligious instru ction, ,ve have designate d educati on as general, techni cal, profess ional, religious, and so on. T his has re­ sult ed in an un fortunate habit of th ought. Edu cation in religion is looked upon as some sort of special t ra ining , or as a side cur rent apa rt fr om the main str eam of education. or the exp lorat ion of the polar regions, religion is supposed Like the tr aining of musicians, th e stud y of math emati cs. to pert ain only to th ose who have a special int erest, th erein. Religious educat ion can no more accept thi s place than religion can consent to be a mere depa rtment of lif e. If religion were ju st a specia lty of priests, monk s, and nun s. or if it belonged only to Sun day , or if it aJ?plied to only :-1 part of our conduct or ideals, then religious educat ion and genera l educat ion might be compa red with each other . Re­ ligion claims to belong to th e ma n. W hatever religion may have been to the ancients, or whateve r it may mean to the civilizat ions that are to fo llow; to us, it is an all-inclu sive. all-commandi ng pri nciple- th e very stuff that hu man life is made of. In keeping with thi s idea th en religious educa­ tion is simply education in th e complete sense of that te rm , or else_i t is not educat ion , but mere training. E ducatio n is not clevided aga inst itself . It is a uni ta ry process . Ed ucation is not made up by agg regating part s, each of which ex ists on its own account; any more than lif e rea lizes itself in the various organs of the human body . T he uni ty of educat ion is seen fr om a psychological point of view. T he idea of educat ion is that the whole child is at work in each of his studi es, not memory in one, rea.~Qll in Christian Ec/11,cation. 257

anoth er, and perc ept·ion in a third . Th e idea is not so much that th e child acquir es one thin g and th en another as it is that he is one thin g and develops into something else. (No t so much what he learn s as what he become s). This carrie s us to a consideration of the ethic al point of view and this too is a unity. For the ethical view of life is an effort to introduce into life, or rather to discove r in life , organization, harmony , and unit y. That is, ethic s t ries to develop toward s an ideal self in which thi s ideal presides as mistre ss over the whole proces s. The unified self with which ethics has to do is th e social self or the self realized in society. And ju st here we see unit y in educat ion from the religiou s piont of view, for religion looks to the unifi­ cation of the self with its entir e world. Thus religion in­ stead of being a departm ent of education is an implicit motive thereof. It is the end that pre sides over the begin­ ning and gives unit y to all stages of the process. The relation of education and religion seems so intimat e that we cannot separate them without disturbing th e founda­ tion of each. As education pr esuppo ses immat urit y in the taught , so religiou s education pr esupp oses a positive reli­ gious nature. This does not imply that the child is all right as he is, that he can grow up properly without divine help, that the lif e principl e in th e child can take care of itself , that the child has any definite concious religious ex­ perience, or sense of God; but spea king pos itively it mean s that the child has more than a pass ive capac ity for spiritual things, and that nothing short of uni on with God can brin g a human being to hims elf.

II. CHRISTIAN EDUCATION A ND ITS INFLUENCE. An education may be religious. howeve r, and not be Ch_ris~ian. Christian education sets th e perf ect man Je sus as its ideal. Paul declar es that he and his associates labor ed, "teaching every man in all wisc.lcm; that we may present every man perfect in Chri st Jesus." God makes the heart hungry , and in Chri st He respond s lo thi s hun ger. Feeding­ upon Chri st we grow in the likeness of God- that is w~ 258 Abilen e Christia11 College Lectures . develop - we are educated. Chri stian education then con­ sists in so presenting Chri st to th e immatur e souls that they shall be by him enlighten ed, inspired and fed acco rdin g to their gradual increa sing capacity , and thus made to grow continually within the court s of th e Lord 's House . But the question may aris e, and has arisen , when should we begin Christian Education ? Is th ere a time when, and a place where? Some say begin it as soon as language is ac­ quired while others oppose aJJ religiou s training of the young on the ground that religion should be a matter of deliberate and rational choice which , they say, is not pos sible, before maturity. Both of the se views are based upon fal se assump­ tions. The first is the intell ectuali st's view of man, which makes life grow out of knowl edge instead of kn owledge out of life. The other is th e notion that training with respect to religion can be postpon ed until some definite or particu­ lar period of life. Not for a single moment does the mind remain neutral or blank with refe rence to the interpretation of life. Very early the child witnes ses specific religiou s phenomena. We can not hide from him our Bibles, our churches, and our wor ship. Th e real que stion th en is never , when shaJJ Christian training begin, for it really begins with the beginning of the child 's expe rience. The real question is what kind shall it be ? Shall it be positive or negative, sym ­ metrical or distorted, repressive or emancip atin g. We speak of America as a Christian nation. It is Chri s­ tian in sanction, in public opinion , if we use th e te rm to differentiate the religion of Americ a from the pagan or other religion s. There was a time in the histo ry of thi s nation when it was Christian in purpo se. Th e forefather s sought out this country as a place in which they might serve God in freedom and in peace. A profound fa ith was in th e very bone and sinew of nati onal life. Th e development was along religiou s lines, and it seems to me that almo st everyt hing good and gr eat that the A merican commonwealth has stood for among the nati ons of the earth has been pre ­ eminently Christian . Th e greatn ess of th e people came from the spirit of the religion that possessed th em, and whatev er greatne ss there is in us today is due to the inherit ance of Christia11Educat ·ion. 259 religiou s faith which we have. '-Ne are living on th e in­ heritance of Christian faith bequeathed to us by men and women who were ardent believers in the God of ou r fath ers , and ·who wer e devot ed professors of His holy law. But what is the new spirit of Ame rica? VVithout allow­ ing our selves to become pessimistic, we must con fess ·; hat there ar e numerous sign s of degeneration forcing them selves upon us, and we can not but dep lore the sinking of religious ideals into a very inf erior place. Before the nation s of the world we stand for money making . Thi s is perhap s the first tim e in th e historv of the wor ld when the temple s of mamm on overt op th e ·cross that crowns the spir es of the temple of Co d. J t is to be hoped that the present world conflict will chan ge thi s greed for gold into a consuming pa ssion fo r service. But until th e last year or so that sorbid prin ciple '·Get money hon estly if you can, but get mone y.'' ha s been leading men of place and power into way s n1at are da rk and devious, whose ends ar e destruction ; so that there has been a moving pictur e of one public man a fter an other sta nd ing fo r a mom ent under th e white light s o f public irn·estigation and then going down in shame and dis­ grace becau se his questionab le busine ss methods could not bear the gaze of public scrutiny . The Gospe l of Chri st would ha ve us. "lay up tr easures in heaven"- " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousne ss." So far we drift ed from th ese ideal s that we have begun to Glory in our fal se standard s, and to point to our material pro sperity as a sign of our marvelo us progress . But Chri stianity doesn't con sist in the abundance of thing s which we possess. Anoth er sign of how much we have forgott en or how far we hav e drifted from Christian ideals is the cheap way in which we hold human life. There is no mark of clestinction between a Christian and a paga n that is more noti ceab le than th e value placed on a human soul. It was mad e a littl e lower than the angel s. It cost the blood of the Son of Goel for its redemption . All the t reasure and meas ur e of thi s earth would be as nothing compared to the loss of one soul. Th e con stant affirmation of thi s fact will save the weak from th e oppres sive tyranny of the strong . 260 A bile11e Chris tian· College Lectures.

It guards the life of the unborn and prot ects helpless in­ fancy. It struck th e shackl es from the limus of the slave as he stood on the auction-block in the slave market. It stretche s out its hand to helpl ess women and safe guards the most precious jewel in her crown. If a man to-day enjo ys civil and religiou s liuert y it is because of the Chris­ tion affirmation of his individu ality in th e possess ion of an immortal soul, and his right s to lif e, libert y, and the pur suit of happin ess because of his infinite redemption by our God manif est in the flesh. Paga n civilizati on has no such idea of the value of man. An Assyrian monarch wrote on th e stones of inevah , "I took prisoners , men young and old. O f some I cut off th e hand s and feet ; oth ers I mutilated. Of the young men's ears I mad e a heap , and of the old men' s skulls I mad e a tow er. Th e children I burned in the flames, ( Sound s as if it were written by the Kai ser ). Pagani sm to-day und er the flag of a new world religion is drenching the allied nations in similar blood. But in our . own America every day hundr eds of lives are being snuffed out in order that our divid end s, our salarie s, and our 1 coupons may satisfy our greed. Little wonder that when we bow down befor e the golden calf, the wor ship of this false god demands fal se sacrifice , but th e pity of it all is that on consumin g altars are laid helpless womanhood and weak innocence. The incid ent s of the last thr ee years hav e in a measur e stoppe d us in our mad ru sh for gold. We stand paralyzed with amazement when we hear the ago nizing cries of our neighbors, and live in constant dread and won- der of what another day may bring. I believe we are reall y being touch ed with th e feeling s of others infirmiti es. What is it that has changed our standards ? The thin g that is going out of our A merican Jife is the spirit of re­ ligion. How has it been brought about ? The an swer is patent. For two or thr ee generations th e young hav e been educated in our schools in which the name of God is prac ­ tically forbidden and from which the dogma s and precept s of religion have been driven. A re we not inviting dis­ aster by shu ting God oul of our schools ? If our perpetuit y as a people depend s on the str eam of the spirit of Chri st Christia n Education . 26 1 that flows in our veins are we not ru shing on to a speedy death by shutting off tl;ose stream s? How long can we live on the inheritance of religiou s faith bequeathed to us by an older generation, if we are spendthrift and profligate and do nothin g to conserve the inherit ance we ha ve re­ ceived ? 111. EFFO RT S '1'0 OB 'l'Al N THE INFLUE NCE Of CHINSTIAN' EDUCATION. There is abso lutely no way to conserve the inheritanc e of Chri stian faith on which th e perpetuity of our national institution s depends, nor to make Christian ideal s again dominant in our civic Ii fe unle ss the teaching of Chri stian doctrin e and th e practice of Chri stian faith are in some way or other conjoined with th e great public school system by which the youth of our land are trained to citizenship. We are shut out of the public schools by the law s of the land. What shall we do? \Ve have pr esumed that we might relegate the teaching of religion to th e hom es. The American home ha s never been able to do that -es pecially is this true of the mod ern home. \Ve have thought the Sunda y school , or Bible stud y, if you prefer to call it that , would help out th e hom es and re­ lieve th e schools of the necess ity of teaching Chri stianit y; but how miserably incomp etent it is when we mak e th e most of it. No science can be learned by being taught only one hour a week . I do not mean to say that the Sunday school sta nds for a Sunday religion . I consider th e Sunday school a factor in Christian education. But re­ ligion is to our dail y lif e what salt is to our food. It ent ers into every act. To follow a method of living that carefull y withholds the salt fr om our food six days in the week and gives us a peck of unadu lterated and undilut ed salt to eat on Sunda y is not the best way to preserve our health and to continu e in our mouth the pleasing ta ste for salt. In an effort on the pa rt of some of our best think ers to keep alive the sentiment of religion. some sort of ethical cultur e has been injected into the curri cu)um of our publi c 2(,2 A bilc11e Christian College Le ctures. school s to supply thi s need by simply teaching the principle s of morality. In the coure s of study for the Boston schools, we find the following statement: " In giving instruction in morals teach ers will at all times exert their best endeavor s to im1;ress on the minds of the youths the principle s of piety and justice and a special regard for truth , love of country , humanity , universal benevolen ce, sobri ety, industry and frugality , chastity, moderation and temperanc e." Thi s moral instruction . it is declared , shall have no trace or shadow of sectarianism or doctrinal teaching .' It is ver y plain that thi s will eliminate the teaching of the existenc e of God. Th e Atheist may be a good A merican citizen and desire to send his child to a public school, but he will not allow the ear s of his child to be offended by teaching th e existence of God. The Hebrew deni es the divinity of Christ. And just so, we could eliminate all moral and spiritual teaching. The law says morality mu st be taught without any dogmati sm. It is absolut ely impo ssible. 1f it were possible then we should have a solution for thi s prob ­ lem at least. But you may just as well try to grow apple s · without a tree. You may just as well tr y to build th e wall s and roof of a house without the foundation . Dogmati sm is the foundation of all morals. Eliminate all the dogmatic teaching and you cannot formulate a complete code of morals. What motive for well doing can be suggested if there is no Law-giver who reward s the faithful and punishes the violater? Will you say to me, be good because it is nice, because it is gentlemanly, becau se you will be happier? The only power by which we can enforce ·our moral teaching is the fact that there is an eternal Law-giver who has the right to bind our wills and the power to vin­ dicate that right. The mere knowledge of the beauty and fitness of an act will no more compel me to do it, or not to do it, than the mere knowledge of geograph y will compel me to travel around the world. Man mu st recognize the absolute authority of the Law -giver and Hi s compelling power, so that Hi s love, Hi s power to puni sh, can over ­ come all allurements to pre sent immoral pleasure s. Moralit y can not be inforced without such dogmatic teaching . Christian Educat ion. 263

There is still a more serious aspcet. In teaching , or tr_\'­ ing to teach , morality separate and apart from Christianity. we make the wrong impression on tho se we teach. They can have little respect for Christianity although we consecrat e it in the church and defend it in the home, if it be condemned in the schools and driven from its door s. Children love school life, and if Christianity is so hurtful a thing as to be denied admis sion into their studies during school hour s, ar e you going to be surprised to find them scoffing at it in after life? Can we hope to build up a God-fearing people , a people fit to be entrusted with domestic management and the guardianship of this great commonwealth, if they ar e trained with the conviction that Christianity, the only perfect basis of moralit y, is an out la wed thing during th e best and brighter homs of the day , through the tenderest ·and most impressionable years of life ? If, then, ,ve can not teach morality without Christianity, and if the home and Sunday school are not adequate; and since we must have it in some way or other if we are going to fulfill our God-given mission; in what way mu st it come ? The problem is pressing for solution. The crisis mav be nearer than we think . Of cour se we never realize a danger until the crash comes. They were eating and drinking and merry-making when the handwriting shone out on the wall It was so when the waters come and covered the earth. It was so when the Assyrians came down on Babylon, and when the Goths and Vandals swept over the mighty empire of Rome. It was so when the iron fist of the Teutoni c hords cursed the twentieth century civilization with its hell­ ish slaughter . It will be so " when the Lord Jesu s shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. " I have laid bare the disease . Perhaps I have been too ex­ plicit. I may have sounded the note of a pessimism or of an alarmist , but 1 have had only one desire, and that is to be as conservative as the fact s allow. But what is the remed y? It is difficult to realiz e how it was even possible to give 264 Ab ilene Chri stia,, College Lec tur es. over our magnificent public school system to the agnostic and the god less to serve his pur pose and yet we have done so. You might be surp rised to know that in one o f these U nited States of America, the teacher who condncts an,· sort of devot ional service in his school will ha ve his certifi­ cate cancelled. T here are oth er states in which the law s are almost as radical. I have taught ten yea rs. I have never taught one day without having gone to God in prayer. I am too weak, too apt to err , to tak e responsibility of teaching one of God's highest creat ions without his blessing me in a special way . T he door is perhaps foreve r shu t aga inst Chri stianity in the public schools. What are we going to do ? What are we doing ?

I V. Some H istor ic Reflections. Let us notice the histo ry of religious moveme nts in th is respect. H isto ry bears irr efu tab le witn ess to the fact that educat ion and the grow th of Christianity are insepa rably conn ected. Eve ry great religious movement has been im­ mediately fo llowed by an educat ional revival, and the move­ ment has been successful and per manent only in so fa r as it has take n th e schools int o its alliance. A strikin g exa mple of the pow er of educat ion under religious influence is to be seen in th e case of the Scotch P resbyte rians. Th rough th e leadership of Knox , Scotland established a system of schools in close affiliat ion with the church. Ever since that time the mini sters have been search­ ing out the most gift ed boys , and enco urag ing them to get an education and ent er the ministry. It has been this splen­ did co-ope ration between the chur ch and schools which has made Scotland the land of grea t preachers. ' Another remark able historical evidence of the va lue of schools in str engthenin g a religious movem ent is to be seen in th e case of the Jesuits. \,Vhen the Roman Chur ch had lost all northern E urope through the Prote stant revolt, and was being thr eate ned even in Ita ly itself , she sought defe nse in the estab lishm ent of Je suit colleges. Eve ry one knows what the result wa s. So insid11ous and persistent were these colleges that for almost tw o centuri es they tra ined and con- Christ ian Edurati o11. 265

trol! ed the leading intelle cts of the Contin ent, both Prote s­ tant and Catholic. Do you want to know what the Cat holics a re doing in America: It was decreed in the last P lena ry Coun cil of Baltim ore, in 1885, that within two yea rs of the date of the proclamation of the decree eve ry parish pri est must vrovid e an adeq uate school for the children in his pari sh or give the reason of his inabili ty in writing to the Bishop. 'l'hi s official attitude toward s the schoo l questio n gave such a renewed impetus to school building that there are now 1,350,000 childr en educated in schools immediat ely under the control of the Cat holic Chur ch, and during the last three genera tions, $300,000,000 have been spent for thi s purp ose. Quot ing from Dr. Eby on Baptist stat istics we hav e the se ,;ta rtlin g fact s, "At the beginning of the 19th centur y the Bapt ists in the entire Domini on of Canada numbered about 600 and they had no schools. Denominati onal lines had :i.11 along been 1·ery closely drawn . and expa nsion could take pla'l:e only un der the most difficult circum stances. \,\Tith heroic faith the small body establi shed Acadia Un ivers ity, in the i\fa ritime Prov inces : F ell~r In stitute in the ve ry heart of Catho lic Ouebec: Mc Ma ster Univers itv, with its llrn adjunct s in th·;;-ex pan si1·e North1rest. At the end of the centu re there 11·ere apprn xi111ateh· 100.COO Bap tists in Canada . More than anv othe r factor these Chri stian Col­ leges are responsible for"the result. At th e beg inning of the 19th centur y there were 100,000 Bapt ists in th e entir e American Unio n ; today there are abo ut 6,000,000. At th at tim e they possessed only one institution of learning , now th ere ~re over 200 in all. Th ese schools have been an indi s­ pensable factor in this mar velous development." T he story is the same, no matte r where we look. 'N ill I be considered an heretic if I say that today if "we as a peo ple" eve r intend to come int o our own and to mak e th e ·influence of the religion of Jesu s Chri st felt through us , we mu st build , maintain , and perpetuat e a system of schools in which Christianity in its beauty and simpli city may be taugh t i!1 some ,vay co-orclinate with the state schools. And I a111 willing to g9 on record today as being one who is not in 266 • Abil ene Christian College Lectures. sympathy nearly so much with the idea that now prevails, ,~herein any one who choo ses may establish a school of thi s sort , as I am with a syste matized , organized , purposeful effort on the part of all the Christian s of all the congrega­ tion s of God · in all the counties of all the states of thes e United State s. Call that a system of "C hurch schools," or what you wish. I am willing to go one step further , and say that that individual who purposefully puts himself in the way of the progre ss of Christian education through the Christian college is either ignorant of the opportunity it afford s, or he is a slacker in the army of Jesus Christ , and a traitor to His cause.

V. What Shall We Do? Whatever yau want a people to become put that thing in the schools. Education was imposed as a divine obligation upon ever y Jewish parent. The dwellings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were at once the home, the school, the state, and the church. It was especially the duty of every fa.ther to teach his children the significance of the Passover feast, and other ceremonial observances , God made the teaching of the divine law compulsory upon every parent in the most imperative term s. We read , "Now these are the command­ ments, the statutes , and the judgments , which the Lord, your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it. That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his command­ ment s, which I command thee , thou and thy son, and thy son's son , all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged, that it may be well with th ee, and that ye may in­ crease mightly, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey." "Hear, 0, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord , thy God with all · thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might and these words, which l command thee this day , shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children , and thou shalt talk of th em when thou sittest in thy house , and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine Chris/inn Ed11rafio11. 267 hand, and they shall be as frontlet s between thine eves . Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy h_ouse gates." They wore the word of God 011 their wrists as we wear our watches, and had a copy of it on the gate posts and door facings. No other people in all the world's history have been so completely immersed in an atmosphere of religi()US instruction as the Jews have been. The whole Mosaic econ­ omy was an educational enterprise of the most far reaching character. The law was their schoolmaster, pedagogue, to lead them to Christ. Jewish institutions were to be pre ·· served in no other way than through religious education. Ha s God's method in the respect of having his people taught changed ? Is the Church of God to be built up in any other way than through teaching ? ls there any imperative reason why the Church as an institution should interest her­ self in education ? Some one has said that there are three E's which stand for the promulgation of Christianity . They are, evangelism, education, and expansion. The latter seem s to ~·ome as a consequence of the first two . Evangeli sm and Christian education are inseparable , and this fact may be more obvious the next generation. There are many new obligations, responsib1lities, and op­ portunities ushered in with every generation. The business of Christian education is to prepare us for their solution. Never has Christian civilization been confronted with such large and difficult problems as today. Some of which are, the liquor question, divorce , child labor, the white slave traffic, increased criminality, political corruption, the rela­ tion of labor and capital , rampant materialism, education, the redemption of the segregated district s of the large citie s, univer sal peace, and the salvation of the world . \,Yith the solution of these problems comes a demand on Christian education for a train ed mini stry and for an in­ telligent layship. The solution calls for great preacher s, well trained. Those of the past though sometimes largely un ­ trained, did work heroic ally. Th e preacher s of the next generation mu st hav e all the eloquenc e and evang elis~ic fervor of th e pioneer s, and the y mu st add to the se the learn­ ing, th e social int erest, the sympath y, and th e teaching power 268 Abilene Christian College Lectures .

that comes through college training. \i\ie all admit the need of a trained ministry. \i\ihat we need more is a generation of trained elders , deacons. - Chri stians. The greate st service that Christians can rend er in the immediate future lies in the training of a new typ e of laymen. I wonder what o"ttr vision would be if we could realize the tremendous pow er of a trained and consecrated body of laymen . ( God hasten the day when our loved ones at home may enjoy the oppor­ tunitie s of a week like this.) Give us men of militant faith and deep piety, trained not only to feel that God has a mighty work for them to do but able to do it. To how many places have you gone where you had to lead in every­ thing ? The church needs men and women trained to teach. to sing, men as lead ers, men into whose hands the care of th e Church can be placed . 'N e are conducting a youn g men's meeting every Sunday afternoon for this very purpose - that we may send back men and women, and especiall y men, to a commnnity trained in th e work of th e Lord. Ma y th e sham e of neglected duty rest upon us if ever th ere goes fr om thi s place a Chri stian boy who is not trained to lead in some public capacit y. \,Vheth er in th e Church assembled , the Sunday school. some incliviclual, the Chri stian college, or in what ever way it may come. Chri stian Educ ation mu st lead every member of th e Chur ch. o f Chri st to know that " religion is no mere matte r of ceremony; no merely beautiful thing for esthetic admirati on ; no mere pra ctice of self mort:i Ii cation ; no mere idle longing for hea ven ; or an awaiting of some miraculous deliveran ce from hell ; no bare ad option eith er of ab stract prin ciples . or anything arbitrarily laid upon him fr om with­ out. ext ernal and for eign to him ; no mere negative aim of any kind: but th at positiv e will of Goel, laid clown in th e \·ery strnctur e of our being . that means th e kindling of gre·at and new enthu siasm, gr eat devotions as great sacrifice s." Chri stian education mu st teach th e world to know that th e prayer "Th y will be clone," is no slave' s submi ssion to superior str ength ; no plainti ve wail ; no outcry of an en­ feebled, brok en wi.11,a s we may be sometime s tempted to think. Rath er it is the highe st reach of a will sublimely Christia.11Educa tion. 269 disciplined to a \\"Orld task. enlighten ed by a reaso n that can think the thoughts of God, inspired by an imaginati on th at sees the ultimat e cons ummati on, warmed by a hea rt th at feels the needs of men, and glows with the greatness of the Father's purpose for th em.' ' \!Vhat eve r att itud e others may assume, or whatever cour se they may pur sue with refe rence to Chirstian educa­ tion. Father, give me a life full of opportunities to spend and be spent in Thy Church, grow ing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Sav ior Jesus Christ, that I may be able to teach oth ers also.

CONTENTS. Introduction ...... Je sse P. Sewe ll 5 A Great Door is Opened ...... Geo. A. Klingman 15 T he Preache r, Hi s Task and Oppo rtunity , Henry Eli Speck 25 Verba l Inspiration of the Scriptur es .. Ma urice D . Gano 37 The Wo rld as the Sl.\bject of Redempti on, Ar thur R. Ho lton 57 Our Educational Program ...... Jo seph U. Yarbrough 65 The We ll-Armour ed Man ...... Clecl E. Wallace 77 The Religion for Today ...... F. L. Rowe 89 Why Study the Bible ? ...... G. Dallas Smit h 101 How Study the Bible ...... G. Dalla s Smith 115 Some Present-day Prob lems and Perils .... F. L. Young 129 Origin , History, and Po sition of the Chur ches of Chri st in the Briti sh Isles ...... John Str aito n 137 Goel Revealed ...... G. H. P. Showalter 161 Missions ...... F. B. Shepherd 175 Who W rote the Bible ? .V. •.•.• ...•. .. . G. Dallas Smith 183 Chri stian Education ...... Batsell Baxter 199 Mysteri es of the Bible ...... G. Dallas Smith 211 Divisions of the Bible ...... : .. . G. Dallas Smith 225 estru ctive Criti cism ...... Geo. A. Klingman 241 Ch ristian Ed ucati on ...... Henry Eli Spec k 255